17-Year-Old Boy Arrested For Marrying Minor Girl In Delhi: Cops

New Delhi:

 A 17-year-old boy was apprehended for allegedly marrying a minor girl and impregnating her in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar area, police said on Wednesday.

According to police, a PCR call was received on Monday from Lal Bahadur Shastri (LBS) hospital that a seven-month minor pregnant girl has come to the facility for check up.

Police reached the hospital where the minor girl, a resident of West Bengal, told them that she and her cousin loved each other. They performed ‘nikah’ in West Bengal on August 25, 2022, a senior police officer said.

In January, they came to Delhi and started living in a rented accommodation at West Jawahar Park, police said.

She came to LBS hospital for routine check up on Monday and being a minor, the doctor attending her called Sakhi centre and also informed the police, they said.

Subsequently, a case under the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act was registered, police said.

After her counselling and medical examination, the girl was kept under hospital observation while the boy was apprehended and produced before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB) on Tuesday, they said.

The JJB released the juvenile on an undertaking and fixed the next date of hearing for age verification. Further investigation is in progress, they added.

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