The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) has accused the Domestic Violence and Victim Support Unit (DOVVSU) of stalling on a 17-year-old girl’s marriage case brought before it. Joe Whittal, Director of Legal Services at CHRAJ, said on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show that his outfit had informed DOVVSU on Friday of the breach in law by the girl’s parents and a 60-year-old Nigerian man who had defied all warnings and went ahead to consummate the marriage. According to the legal brain, CHRAJ’s decision to treat it as a criminal case was based on the fact that the Children’s Act, Section 13 had been breached by those involved in consummating the girl’s marriage to the 60-year-old-man and it was therefore incumbent on DOVVSU to investigate the matter. Section 13 (1) of the Children’s Act states that “(a) no person shall force a child to be betrothed, (b) to be the subject of a dowry transaction or (c) to be married" while Section 13 (2) states that “the minimum age of marriage of whatever kind shall be eighteen years". “On Friday we wrote to the National Coordinator of DOVVSU informing her that when we looked at the complaint critically and after preliminary investigation, it is clear that the Chilren’s Act, Section 13 has been transgressed. “We informed her that all persons who are involved in marrying the girl off forcefully...should be investigated and possibly prosecuted,” he stated. Mr Whittal, however, said DOVVSU was yet to get back to his outfit on developments of their investigations. “We expected them to have at least invited the parents and the husband; at least taken statements from them,” he said. Asked whether DOVVSU had invited the individuals responsible for the marriage he replied, “at least to our knowledge, they haven’t done that.” Mr Whittal bemoaned the slow pace the Ashanti Regional branch of DOVVSU had attached to the case and added that a complaint was lodged to the National Coordinator of the police unit to which they were yet to get a response. Asked what would be his next move should DOVVSU fail to carry out investigations into the matter, Mr Whittal said he would not hesitate to inform the Inspector General of Police (IGP) about the lack of interest attached to the case by DOVVSU. Story by Fidel Amoah/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana