• Wion
  • /India News
  • /Maneka Gandhi asks Sushma Swaraj to help rescue 16-year-old married to Oman sheikh

Maneka Gandhi asks Sushma Swaraj to help rescue 16-year-old married to Oman sheikh

Maneka Gandhi asks Sushma Swaraj to help rescue 16-year-old married to Oman sheikh

Omani sheikh

Story highlights

'I would request @SushmaSwaraj to intervene and bring the girl back to India from Oman,' Maneka wrote on Twitter

India's woman and child development minister Maneka Gandhi has asked external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to help rescue a 16-year-old girl from Hyderabad who has allegedly been married off to a sheikhfrom Oman for Rs 5 lakh.

The sheik is reportedly in his 60s.

Gandhi took to Twitter to respond to media reports on the incident which she termed as "deeply disturbing".

Add WION as a Preferred Source

"Have asked the Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad, to investigate the case and identify the persons who forced this illegal marriage," she tweeted.

"I would request @SushmaSwaraj to intervene and bring the girl back to India from Oman," the minister wrote on Twitter.

She also asked the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights to contact the girl's family members.

According to media reports, the girl -- styding in class VIII -- was married to the 65-year-old sheikh, named as Ahmed, from Oman three months ago for Rs 5 lakh.

The girl's parents had on Wednesday filed a complaint with the policealleging that her aunt had facilitated the illegal marriage for money.