A 14-year old girl was rescued in time before she could be married off to a man in a private wedding hall in Kottaimedu near Ukkadam in Coimbatore on Sunday.

The function was forced to be called off by police and revenue officials who arrived on the scene. Elders in the family however claimed that they were only arranging her engagement.

The girl was a Standard IX student studying in a private school and was residing at Karumbukadai.

According to a family relative who alerted journalists about the marriage in an attempt to stop the marriage, the girl’s parents had borrowed Rs.20,000 from the groom’s family residing at Saramedu, which they were not able to repay within the stipulated time. The total amount with interest had touched Rs.2 lakh.

Unable to repay the loan, the girl’s family accepted the wish of the groom’s family to give their daughter in marriage to their 21-year old son.

However, it was stopped by police and revenue officials who arrived on the scene half an hour before the marriage and later took the girl’s family to the South Taluk Office where they got a written statement from them stating that they would not get their daughter married before the age of 18.

Meanwhile, police sources have claimed that the groom was arrested a couple of times for involvement in crimes.