UP Teen Girl Calls Helpline, Stops Her Own Child Marriage

A 16-year-old girl from eastern Uttar Pradesh picked up the phone and made the most important call of her life, defying her parents, who had decided for her a life far away in Saudi Arabia with a 25-year-old man.Instead of checking her bridal wear for her marriage scheduled for Wednesday, she dialled 1098 -- the child helpline -- to set in motion a process that eventually stopped her child marriage.The teenager, Gudiya (name changed), took the step last week after learning that her family had arranged her marriage in a village in Bairia area of Ballia district in UP.Gudiya has completed her high school education and wishes to study further."This girl was remarkably aware that she was below the legal age for marriage, which is 18 years, and thus contacted the helpline before the scheduled wedding," District Probation Officer Amarendra Kumar Potsayan told PTI on the phone.Potsayan, who promptly set up a committee after Gudiya's call, admitted that her call spurred the authorities to action, bringing together the district Department of Women and Child Development, the police and a…