Man in Karnataka marries bride’s minor sister too; held

MULBAGAL: In a scene reminiscent of 1979 Kannada movie, Puttanna Kanagal’s ‘Dharma Sere’, a 31-year-old mason married two sisters from Vegamadagu village, Mulbagal taluk in Kolar district on May 7. He was arrested on Sunday.



The younger girl is a 16-year-old deaf-and-dumb girl and Umapathi agreed to marry her as the bride, Supriya, 21, reportedly insisted on it a few days before the wedding. According to revenue officials who spoke to the family, Supriya feared her sibling could never get married because of her handicap. Incidentally, Umapathi is the girl’s maternal uncle.



Kolar police on Sunday arrested Umapathi, his parents and in-laws, the printer who printed the invitation cards for the wedding and the priest who conducted the marriage under the Prohibition of ChildMarriage Act, 2006. While Supriya has finished her II PU course, her sibling dropped out of school after Class 9.
According to Venkataswamy, a Vegamadagu villager, the bride’s father Nagarajappa too had married Subbamma and her sister Ranemma, who is deaf and dumb and has no children. Subbamma has four daughters. The eldest daughter got married last year, while the youngest is studying in primary school.




‘Will be sent back to parents if she’s willing’
Ramesh, Child Development Project Officer, Mulbagal said he rushed to the village in the morning and found that Supriya was at her inlaws house in a neighbouring village and her sibling was in her parents’ house.
The minor will undergo a medical examination and then sent back to her parents i


she is willing. Otherwise, she will be sent to Balamandira, KGF, Ramesh said.