Lalgola, Feb. 23: Twelve-year-old Nabirul Sheikh has stopped going to school. He is now an object of ridicule for his classmates at Birampur Junior High School as he is the only “married” boy in class.

Nabirul, a resident of Birampur in Lalgola area of Murshidabad, 250 km from Calcutta, cannot hold back his tears as he recalls how he was forced to marry 18-year-old Marjina Khatun on February 15 last year. He was only 11 then. The school register shows Nabirul’s date of birth as May 1, 1994.

Nabirul said his fault was he had spoken to Marjina, a neighbour living about 40 metres from his house. Marjina’s father Kuran Sheikh raised a hue and cry when he came to know that the two were seen talking. He asked villagers to organise a shalishi meeting, which decided that the two were having an affair and must get married.

Murshidabad superintendent of police Niraj Kumar Singh intervened after Nabirul’s father Aksed Ali approached him on Tuesday. Aksed had gone to Lalgola police station several times to lodge a complaint but was turned away.

Last August, Aksed moved court challenging the marriage of his minor son.

Police last night arrested Marjina, Kuran and their relative Samsul Alam. They were produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate of Lalbag today and remanded in jail custody for two weeks.

Aksed alleged that Kuran came from a big family of farmers ? about 70 to 80 of them live in the village.

“We are only a family of three and Nabirul is my only son. I am also a farmer but financially I am better off than Kuran. He thought that if he could marry off his daughter to my son, she would live happily,” said Aksed.

“According to our tradition, Marjina went back to her parents’ house 12 days after the marriage. We were supposed to bring her back, but my parents refused,” Nabirul said.