Bihar: 40-year-old man arrested under POCSO Act for marrying minor in Siwan

Siwan (Bihar) [India], April 30 (ANI): A 40-year-old man was arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for marrying an 11-year-old girl in Bihar's Siwan district, police said on Sunday.
The accused has been identified as Mahendra Pandey.
In this regard, Siwan Superintendent of Police Shailesh Kumar Sinha said, " Accused Mahendra Kumar has been arrested under the POSCO Act. The minor girl has been sent for medical examination. Further investigation is underway".
The mother of the minor girl alleged that the accused Mahendra Pandey had forcefully married her daughter due to non-payment of a loan.
However, accused Mahendra Pandey denied the aforementioned allegations that it is a trap set by the mother of the girl to extract money from him.
"I got married with the consent of the girl and her mother. Now the girl's mother is blackmailing me. She started demanding money. There is no kind of money transaction between us. I am trapped. Some media persons are spreading false news," he said.
The minor girl Sandhya Kumar also said that her mother is implicating the accused Mahendra Pandey in a false case.
"Both of us got married with the consent of my mother, we want to stay together. Earlier my mother had got everything done, now she is trapping both of us," the minor girl said.
After receiving the complaint from the mother of the minor girl, police registered a case at Mairwa police station and arrested the accused Mahendra Kumar under the POSCO act. (ANI)