The boy named Prakash Prajapat, 16, from Jodhpur, in western Indian, was forced to marry a thirteen-year-old girl of his parents’ choice from a neighbouring town.

He was informed of his approaching marriage only in a week’s time before.

The young boy asked a charity group to help him as the girl was a complete stranger for him.

After the disapproval from parents’ side, he contacted a Trust for child marriages, which then sent a police team to put a stop to the illegal ceremony just moments before the ceremony.

Child weddings are common in rural India despite the marriage of a girl aged below 18 or a boy aged below 21 being illegal under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006.

“When I first met Prakash, he cried and pleaded for my help. He was desperate not to marry,” said Kriti Bharti, who heads Sarathi Trust, a campaign group against child marriages.

The families became apprehensive about the involvement of the Trust and decided to move the ceremony to a different date in a secret location.

But Prakash texted Kriti Bharti about his situation from his mobile phone and she organised a team of police officers to stop the proceedings.

The parents were taken to the court and banned from marrying the young bride and the groom for five years.