Woman arrested for marrying minor boy

A 19-year-old woman working in a fuel filling station in India’s town of Pollachi was arrested for marrying a minor boy.

She was arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act for marrying the 17-year-old boy and sexually assaulting him.

Police registered a case under Section 5(I) (aggravated sexual assault) and Section 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault) of the POCSO Act. She was produced before the special court and remanded to judicial custody in Coimbatore central prison.

According to the police, the woman discontinued her studies after failing in Class 10 and took up a job at the petrol bunk in Pollachi. The young boy who had completed the Plus 2 Class was a regular at the petrol bunk and the woman fell in love with the boy and later eloped with him.

They married at Dindigul on Thursday and returned to Coimbatore where they stayed in a rented accommodation.

The boy’s mother filed a complaint before the police on Saturday and when the woman came to know of the complaint she surrendered before the all-women police station at Pollachi.

Dr. Manoj Ragunathan, a Child clinical psychologist at Coimbatore while speaking to IANS said, “These types of cases are not common and women taking initiative in such a relationship are less. She should be given proper counseling as well as the boy.”