In '24-'25, 1,351 child marriages stopped in 416 districts: Report

NEW DELHI: An analysis of data from 416 districts in 23 states by a collective of voluntary organisations shows that as many as 1351 child marriages were stopped and over 1.22 lakh prevented through legal interventions between April 1, 2024 to March 31 this year.
As many as 779 FIRs were registered in cases where marriage could not be stopped with the maximum cases (170) filed in West Bengal followed by Tamil Nadu (146) and Bihar (114).
The data collated by ‘Just Rights For Children’ (JRC) - a network of over 250 organisations shows that of the 1351 cases where marriages were stopped across the 23 states, legal interventions involved making a general diary entry in the police stations record (737 cases), intervention of the Child Welfare Committees (593 cases) and through an injunction order from the courts ( 21 cases).
In over 1.22 lakh cases, mostly where information regarding a family planning to marry their underage daughter was received, marriage was prevented by taking undertakings from the parents and guardians before govt authorties like police, sub divisional magistrate, child marriage prohibition officer or panchayat member.
Besides this in a little more than 66000 cases undertakings were taken from parents where a prospective child marriage was being pllaned in villages through persuation by community social workers associated with the JRC network.
This data yet again brings into focus the concern over prevalence of child marriage ahead of 'Akshay Tritiya' to be observed on April 30. On this day a lot of child marriages are solemnised in the garb of mass marriages.
Recognising the seriousness of the problem, the National Human Rights Commission has alerted states to step-up action to prevent child marriage and look out for vulnerable children particularly out of school girls ahead of ‘Akshay Tritiya’.
NHRC member Priyank Kanoongo has asked state authorities to issue instructions to the school administration to review current statistics on school drop-outs and re-enrol them.
He has further stated that religious institutions and local governing bodies within the state and UT may be directed to strictly prohibit from facilitating or promoting child marriage.
“The appointment and sensitisation of designated child marriage prohibition officer may be ensured by the state and union territories” Kanoongo states in the letter sent out to all chief secretaries and marked to the secretary of the union ministry of women and child development.
Noting that the involvement of stakeholders like faith leaders is crucial in the fight to end child marriage in the country, Ravikant, national convenor of ‘Just Rights for Children “marking the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, we’ve launched a campaign titled ‘Bal Vivah ke Khilaf Dharam Guru’ in more than 400 districts. Through this initiative, we are mobilizing faith-based leaders to speak out against child marriage.”
Last year from March a drive to identify children at risk of child marriage was conducted across states on the directions of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The exercise revealed that over 11.49 lakh children across 27 states and 7 UTs most of them girls were found to be “vulnerable” as they had either dropped out of school, were out or school, or had been irregular or absent from school for long without any intimation to the school authorities.