Gender activist Angela Dwamena Aboagye is asking the police to intervene in a case in which a female JHS student, 17, has forcefully been withdrawn from school to get ready for marriage. Muniratu Abdul Karim has reportedly been withdrawn from the Uthmania Junior High School in Kumasi to marry a sixty-year old Nigerian. Although she is said to have indicated she is not interested in the marriage, her family is said to be forcing her to do so. Muniratu’s teachers fear she will not take the BECE exams in April because she would have to relocate to Nigeria after the marriage. Muniratu's father, when called over the phone to explain his intended action, went berserk, raining invectives at journalists for daring to question him over what he decides for the daughter. He questioned if anybody had been responsible for Muniratu's school bills or upkeep, to seek to foist any moral codes on him. Executive Director of the Ark Foundation Angela Dwamena Aboagye describes Muniratu’s parents’ action as criminal. She believes the parents’ action is motivated by greed but says “you can’t enrich yourself at the expense of your won daughter.” The Acting Commissioner of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), Ms Ana Bossman, agreed, and urged teachers of the victim to lodge a formal complaint with the Commission for action on the matter. She said the parents of the girl appeared to have the false impression that they had absolute right over the girl and that they could do with her what they chose without any legal ramifications. Commissioner Bossman regretted the case of forced marriage was rampant in the country. She said information available to the commission indicated that majority of the head porters (Kayayei) in Accra were basically escapees from forced marriages. Source: Joy News/Ghana