Couple under investigation after using 250 children to carry bride’s wedding dress; 100 as flower girls (Photos)

A Sri Lankan couple are under

investigation for using hundreds of
school children to carry the train of the
bride’s saree during a wedding
ceremony.

About 250 students carried the train of
the two-mile long saree worn by the
bride, as she and the groom walked
down a main road in the centre of the
Kandy.

The National Child Protection Authority
(NCPA) said using students for such
ceremonies during school hours was
against the law, with violators facing up
to 10 years in prison.

The saree is the longest ever worn by a
bride in Sri Lanka and another 100
students, from the state-owned school,
served as flower girls at the wedding.

The students were from a school named
after Central Province Chief Minister
Sarath Ekanayaka, who was a special
guest at the wedding,

‘We have started an investigation. We
are going all out because we don’t want
this to become a trend,’ said NCPA
Chairman Marini de Livera.

‘What they (the wedding party) did is a
violation of child rights,’ de Livera said.
‘Depriving children of education, risking
their security and harming their dignity
are criminal offences.’