tiruvannamalai a month after a 13yearold girl was forced into marriage with her maternal uncle in a village in tiruvannamalai taluk the district administration rescued the victim on thursday the victims mother is said to have branded her daughter on the face with hot iron and forced her to consummate her marriage with her husbandthe girl who was studying in class ix in the government girls higher secondary school in tiruvannamalai town was forced to marry her 23yearold maternal uncle p ayyanar a daily wage labourer the marriage took place on june 26 discreetly with even neighbours unaware of the ceremonythe incident came to light after the girl mustered courage and contacted the childline at 215pm on wednesday over the phone with the help of neighbours we also got a call from one of the neighbours said tiruvannamalai childline coordinator s muruganhe alerted district social welfare officer dswo dr christina t dorthy about the minor marriage the dswo along with revenue officials and police conducted a surprise check at the victims house and conducted an inquirythe girls mother kalpana admitted to have forced the girl into marriage said the dswo she apparently told the officer that her daughter was in love with a boy outside their caste vanniyar hence they arranged for the marriage to safeguard the family honoursince kalpanas family and her brother ayyanar were living as joint family in the same house they decided the marriage will be held discreetly they took the girl to a temple in thirukovilur the youth tied the knot in front of the temple and they immediately returned home since they are living in the same house no one knew about it said dorthythe girls family stopped her from going to school after the marriage the girl refused to have a physical relationship with her husband hence her family and husband reportedly abused her physically and psychologically in a bid to force her into a physical relationship with her husband the girls mother also tied her hands behind and assaulted her there are scars on the victims face said a source quoting the victims statementthe girl said she did not have any affair but her family fabricated the story to get her married to her uncle we will send the girl for a medical test if the report showed she was sexually assaulted we will file a case under the provision of posco act against her maternal uncle added the dswothe girl would be handed over to the district child welfare committee which would help the victim to continue her studies forcing minor into marriage is a cognizable offence and attract imprisonment for a minimum of two years besides penalty of rs 1 lakh