Three people — the groom, the girl's mother, and a facilitator — were arrested after the child's teacher alerted the police.
Published Aug 01, 2025 | 12:10 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 01, 2025 | 12:10 PM
Pictures of the illegal wedding on social media showed the girl, a Class 8 student, standing in front of Goud with a garland in her hand. (Supplied)
Synopsis: The girl, originally from Chelka Chilkamarri village in the Rangareddy district, was living with her mother at a rented accommodation in Nandigama with her mother and brother after the death of her father. The girl’s mother, Sravanthi, who works at the airport, reportedly asked house owner Pentaiah to help find a groom for her daughter.
A 40-year-old man married a 13-year-old girl at a temple in Nandigama, some 55 kilometres from Hyderabad in Telangana, in the presence of his first wife, the child’s mother, and others.
The groom, Edigi Srinivas Goud of Kandwada village in Chevella Mandal of the Rangareddy district, is now cooling his heels behind bars. The girl’s mother, Chakali Sravanthi, and a mediator, Govu Pentaiah, who arranged the marriage, too, have been arrested.
Pictures of the illegal wedding on social media showed the girl, a Class 8 student, standing in front of Goud with a garland in her hand. After the wedding, the girl spent a week at her “husband’s” house before returning to her mother and resuming school.
An alert teacher noticed the girl was distressed, and on enquiry, learnt what had happened on Wednesday, 30 July. The teacher alerted the police, and a case was registered under sections 9 and 10 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act. Provisions of the POCSO Act were not invoked since there was no evidence of sexual abuse at this stage.
The girl, originally from Chelka Chilkamarri village in the Rangareddy district, was living with her mother at a rented accommodation in Nandigama with her mother and brother after the death of her father. The girl’s mother, Sravanthi, who works at the airport, reportedly asked house owner Pentaiah to help find a groom for her daughter. Subsequently, Pentaiah introduced Goud to the family.
Despite the girl’s objection, she was forced to marry Goud on 28 May 2025 at Lingamurthula Temple near Nandigama. Goud’s adult wife Yadamma was present when priest Kammari Anjaneyulu allegedly ‘solemnised’ the marriage.
Nandigama police Sub-Inspector K Devaraju is probing the case under the supervision of Inspector P Prasad.
One of the manifestations of gender-based violence against girls, child marriage, is a barrier to social and economic development. Although there has been a significant reduction in the prevalence of child marriages in India, a few districts in Telangana, such as Mahabubnagar, Nalgonda, Medak, and Adilabad, continue to report instances above the national average, according to the Centre for Economic and Social Studies in Hyderabad.
According to the 2011 Census, approximately 2.8 lakh children in Telangana got married before reaching the legal marriage age, constituting around 2 percent of all married children in the country.
