Updated on: 13 April 2023 11:14 AM IST | Mumbai
Jennifer Nadar | news@debotimes.in

Police send the girl to a child rescue center after she refused to go home with her parents.

The Dahisar police have arrested a 23-year-old man who married a minor girl after allegedly forging her Aadhaar card to identify her as a 19-year-old woman before the court.

According to sources, Gaurav Makwana and the girl were in a relationship for a while and got married recently. Both Makwana and the girl are residents of Dahisar.
On April 11, the couple reached the Dahisar police station to seek protection, fearing harm, as they had married without their parent’s consent.

Cops informed both their parents after which the girl’s father arrived at the police station. The father was shocked to see his daughter dressed as a bride and told the cops that she was a minor, a source told mid-day.

“We checked the marriage documents that contained a copy of the girl’s Aadhaar card, according to which her birth date was April 12, 2004. However, according to the Aadhaar card produced by her father, she was born on May 7, 2006. The girl got scared and confessed that Makwana helped her create a fake ID card and submitted it in court for marriage,” said an officer from Dahisar police station.

He added, “We have registered a case on the complaint of the father and arrested Makwana, whom the court sent to police custody on Tuesday.” He has been booked under IPC Sections 363 (punishment for kidnapping), 420 (cheating), 465 (punishment for forgery), 466 (forgery of record of Court or of public register, etc.), 471 (Using as genuine a forged document or electronic record), and under Section 9 (punishment for male adult marrying a child) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006.

As the girl refused to return home to her parents and two siblings, the police sent her to a child rescue center.