A 14 year-old Bangladeshi girl prevented her own underage marriage by informing the local authorities.
The teen, who lived with her family in the central Tangail district, had been told of a pending marriage arranged by her parents. She protested, saying he did not wish to marry before she was 18, but they ignored her and continued to plan the wedding.
The day before the scheduled ceremony, which was planned for yesterday (November 21) the girl went along to office of a local official with two of her friends and told him about the pending marriage. Praising the girl for her bravery, the official promptly summoned her parents and fined her father 1,000 taka (£10.16). If he does not pay the fine with seven days he could be jailed.
The girl’s father also had to solemnly promise not to arrange any further marriages for her until she reached her 18th birthday. He made the vow in the presence of several witnesses, including the headmaster of the local girl’s school. The parents were eventually allowed to take their teenage daughter back to the family home.
As they left, the headmaster told them that the school would sponsor the cost of her continuing studies at school if they could not afford to do so.
