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Child wedding 'stopped by pupils'
Classmates of a 13-year-old Bangladeshi school girl due to enter a forced marriage have united to stop the ceremony going ahead, police say.
Around 50 pupils in the town of Satkhira took to the streets to demand that Habiba Sultana's wedding be called off, they say.
Pupils even submitted a petition to police urging them to take action.
Police summoned Habiba's father and ordered him to stop the girl's marriage, which they said was illegal.
Her father was told to sign a bond in which he promised not marry off his daughter while she is still a child, the Bangladesh Daily Star reported.
It said that the wedding was to have taken place in the south-western town of Satkhira in Friday.
Police say that Habiba, a student of Abdul Karim Girls' High School, did not agree when her poverty-stricken father arranged for her to marry a 23-year-old neighbour.
Police say that she was too frightened to protest.
When she told her friends about the impending wedding, they rallied round and urged her not to go ahead.
Parents of her friends contacted Habiba's father and tried to stop him from going ahead with the wedding.
Initially he ignored their protests, but changed his mind after the police were alerted and small protests were held outside the school.
Correspondents say that the stand of the schoolgirls has created a stir in the town.
Like many other parts of the country - young people in Satkhira are deferential to their parents and seldom question their commands.
The marriage of a 13-year-old girl was prevented after her schoolmates marched in protest and lodged a police complaint in Satkhira town in southwestern Bangladesh.
Around 50 girls, students of Class 8 of the Abdul Karim Girls' School, surprised the townspeople by taking to the streets and filing a complaint with the police, the Daily Star reported Friday.
Habiba Sultana, 13, dared not oppose her marriage to a neighbour 10 years her senior, who her father Siddique Sana, hard-pressed for money, had chosen.
But when she confided in some of her friends, one of them told her own father to lodge a complaint but he did not oblige.
Left with no choice, the girls prepared a petition and submitted it to the officer in charge of the Sadar Police Station.
Satkhira police chief Mirza Abdullahel Baki hurriedly summoned Sana and asked him to stop his minor daughter's marriage.
Habiba's father then had to sign a bond that he would not marry off his daughter until she became an adult.
Although most governments have banned child marriages, they are still common among the poor and rural people across South Asia.
Around 50 pupils in the town of Satkhira took to the streets to demand that Habiba Sultana's wedding be called off, they say.
Pupils even submitted a petition to police urging them to take action.
Police summoned Habiba's father and ordered him to stop the girl's marriage, which they said was illegal.
Her father was told to sign a bond in which he promised not marry off his daughter while she is still a child, the Bangladesh Daily Star reported.
It said that the wedding was to have taken place in the south-western town of Satkhira in Friday.
Police say that Habiba, a student of Abdul Karim Girls' High School, did not agree when her poverty-stricken father arranged for her to marry a 23-year-old neighbour.
Police say that she was too frightened to protest.
When she told her friends about the impending wedding, they rallied round and urged her not to go ahead.
Parents of her friends contacted Habiba's father and tried to stop him from going ahead with the wedding.
Initially he ignored their protests, but changed his mind after the police were alerted and small protests were held outside the school.
Correspondents say that the stand of the schoolgirls has created a stir in the town.
Like many other parts of the country - young people in Satkhira are deferential to their parents and seldom question their commands.
The marriage of a 13-year-old girl was prevented after her schoolmates marched in protest and lodged a police complaint in Satkhira town in southwestern Bangladesh.
Around 50 girls, students of Class 8 of the Abdul Karim Girls' School, surprised the townspeople by taking to the streets and filing a complaint with the police, the Daily Star reported Friday.
Habiba Sultana, 13, dared not oppose her marriage to a neighbour 10 years her senior, who her father Siddique Sana, hard-pressed for money, had chosen.
But when she confided in some of her friends, one of them told her own father to lodge a complaint but he did not oblige.
Left with no choice, the girls prepared a petition and submitted it to the officer in charge of the Sadar Police Station.
Satkhira police chief Mirza Abdullahel Baki hurriedly summoned Sana and asked him to stop his minor daughter's marriage.
Habiba's father then had to sign a bond that he would not marry off his daughter until she became an adult.
Although most governments have banned child marriages, they are still common among the poor and rural people across South Asia.
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