Siliguri : The marriage of a 16-year-old girl to a groom from Gurgaon was stopped on Tuesday by the administration with the help of an NGO in northern West Bengal’s Darjeeling district.
The student of Class 7 from Chhotomaniram Jote village of Naxalbari block was slated to be married to a man from Gurgaon in Haryana during the day.
However, Block Development Officer Kingshuk Maity came with police personnel and members of an NGO, and ordered that the marriage ceremony be called off as she was a minor.
“The girl has her mother, one married elder sister, two younger sisters and one married brother. The name of the groom is Kamal Kumar, who says he is from Gurgaon,” said Maity.
Two others in the groom’s party — Satpal Singh and Sattabir Singh — claimed they were also from Gurgaon and ex-army personnel.
“We are verifying their identities. We are also trying to find out whether it is a case of human trafficking,” said Maity.