District Court of Tanahu has ordered 15 days jail sentence to the accused of child marriage of a 15-year-old girl. The arrested ones are Santosh Aryal, 23 (the groom), his father Bhanubhakta Aryal of Shahid Lakhan Rural Municipality-2, Bishnu Prasad Bhattarai (the priest) of Byas Municipality, and the parents of the victim.
Judge Harischandra Dhungana gave the verdict on January 17 and also charged them with the fine of NPR 5,000 each informed Shrestedar Min Bahadur Kunwar.
The accused groom had tried to marry the victim on July 8, 2020 and they all were arrested from the marriage venue (vivah mandap) on the same day. A case was filed against them in the district court under the title of offence of marriage under the Civil and Penal Code.
The accused were later released on a bail. The court had ordered to release the accused Santosh on a bail of NPR 50,000, the girl’s and Santosh’s father on a bail of NPR 20,000 each and Bhattarai and the girl’s mother on bail of NPR 5,000 each.