Minor girl's fax to collector saves her from forced wedding

A minor village girl from Tamil Nadu's Krishnagiri saved herself from a forced marriage to a man twice her age by faxing a complaint and her wedding invitation to the district collector.
Acting quickly on 15-year-old schoolgirl Muniyammal's call, collector Arun Roy sent a team of the officials to the wedding venue and stopped the marriage moments before it was to take place.
The officials told the groom, Sundaram (32), to drop the plan of marrying the minor girl or face action. Sundaram dropped the plan and left the venue.
The officials also warned Muniyammal's parents, Venkataraman and Konammal, of stringent action if they married off their daughter before the permissible age and her consent. Those who gathered at the temple for the function disbursed immediately and the parents gave an assurance to officials that Muniyammal would be permitted to continue her studies.
Roy praised Muniyammal's courage and said it was a result of ongoing awareness programmes against child marriages.
He issued a statement terming child marriages illegal and warned that underage weddings would invite stringent criminal action.