Indonesian boy, 15, weds his lover, 73
Print Edition
A 15-year-old boy has married his 73-year-old lover in a village on Indonesia’s Sumatra island, officials said, after the couple threatened a double suicide if their match was thwarted.
The romance began when septuagenarian Rohaya Binti Kiagus Muhammad Jakfar took care of her neighbor Selamet Riyadi, 15, who was suffering from malaria.
“Selamet is too young to marry but we married them anyway because he threatened to commit suicide,” said village chief Cik Ani, adding local officials also wanted them to “avoid the sin of adultery.” “Since the boy is an underage, we have decided to carry out the marriage privately,” he said.
Riyadi’s father died several years ago and he was not properly cared for by his mother, who has remarried, Ani said.
Rohaya has been married twice before, but this time “she got a virgin,” Ani added.
The marriage took place on Sunday in the remote Karang Endah village in southern Sumatra, but sparked national interest when a video of the couple’s wedding vows went viral on social media outlets.
“We love each other,” Rohaya told reporters after the wedding. The video shows the unlikely couple reciting their vows in front of their relatives and friends.
Under Indonesian law, the legal age for marriage is 19 for a man and 16 for a woman.
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