Police have thwarted a child marriage in Chittagong and arrested an alleged rapist in Gazipur in separate drives after receiving calls through 999, the national emergency helpline.

The law enforcers have taken the steps within a span of two days after Prime Minister's ICT Affairs Adviser Sajeeb Wazed Joy officially inaugurated the 999 helpline.

In Chittagong, a 12-year-old daughter of one Kamal Uddin was set to marry with a brick kiln worker named Nurul Afsar, who is much older than Akhi, police said.

Hearing the news of the child marriage, one of the neighbours of the seventh-grader, who was unwilling to tie the knot, made a help call to the 999 control room and lodged the complaint, said Imtiaz Bhuiyan, officer-in-charge of Rangunia Police Station.

Later, a team of police led by the OC rushed to the spot and stopped the marriage and also took a written statement from Akhi’s father that he would not get her daughter married until she reaches maturity.

In Gazipour, law enforcers arrested a 40-year-old man yesterday after a family placed a complaint against him by calling 999 for raping a mentally challenged girl in Harbaid area.

The arrestee, Alauddin, 40, from Sambalpur area of Bhola is also the cousin of the victim, said Aminul Islam of Joydebpur Police Station. Alauddin is father of three children.

He came to Gazipur to attend wedding of the victim’s brother, reports our Gazipur correspondent quoting the police official.

A medical test was conducted on the victim to confirm the matter. The victim’s mother filed a rape case with the police station.