Washington, Apr 16 : A Pakistani-origin teenage girl reportedly ran away from her parent’s home in Skokie, Illinois, to avoid an arranged marriage back home.

Sixteen-year-old Zaineb Chaudhary was last seen on March 11 at Niles North High School in Skokie, United States, Fox News reports.

According to an officer of the Skokie Police Department, Zaineb’s father had gone to Pakistan to arrange a marriage for his daughter.

"He has stated that he was there, looking for marriage arrangement for his daughter," he said.

He also expressed fears that the girl’s family might view her disappearance as a disgrace, adding that the police department would protect her from any possible "honor crime."

"She can come to us and we''re going to make sure that she''s taken care of and that she can feel safe while returning or contact us," Jacobsen said. "We have a girl, raised here in the United States, being raised here in a different culture than where her parents are from, trying to accept the Western ways here," Jacobsen added.

Authorities believe the girl may have posed as a 19-year-old on a social networking site so that she could escape to El Monte, California, with a 39-year-old man she met online.

The man is reportedly being questioned by police there. (ANI)