Police arrested a woman, her paramour and son for allegedly trying to marry off her minor daughter to her paramour in Poonamalee on Thursday.
Police identified the arrested as Nagalakshmi, 40, paramour Sivasamy, 40, and son Rajkumar, 21.
The arrest was the result of a complaint from her 17-year-old daughter, a plus-two student, who approached the police via an NGO, Centre for Women Development and Research.
The girl said that her mother and brother were planning to marry her off to Sivasamy, a wholesale flower dealer at Koyambedu, on the last day of her exams.
On Wednesday, as soon as she finished her last exam, Sivasamy was waiting to take her home and that was when the NGO intervened with the help of police.
“Sivasamy told police he was a heart patient and had undergone a bypass surgery. He claimed he had never planned such a marriage,” police said.
However, the girl said her mother had conducted a ‘marriage sort-of function’ at her home a few months back by forcing an exchange of garlands between Sivasamy and her. The girl said Sivasamy was waiting for her to finish her exams to start sleeping with her.
Sivasamy had been taking care of the family after the death of his friend Murali, husband of Nagalakshmi, 17 years ago. However he began to desire Nagalakshmi’s daughter.
He convinced his concubine and got her consent to marry the girl.
“We arrested the three and registered a case of molestation against Sivasamy, who is already married and has a 14-year-old son,” police said.