TIRUCHY: As the marriage season has kicked off with the onset of Tamil month of Thai, there has been an increase in child marriages here. Eight such marriages were stopped by authorities so far in January, the latest one involving a 9-year-old girl.
Based on a tip-off received by Childline, police and rural welfare officials stopped the Class IV girl’s marriage to 39-year-old man at Minnathampatti near Thottiyam in Musiri on Thursday. “The girl was to marry a relative who was of her father’s age. Child marriage is prevalent in her Thottiyanayakar community,” said S Thiyagarajan, city coordinator of the Childline nodal agency in Bishop Heber College.
While 12 child marriages were stopped in January last year, this year’s figure could go up before Thai is over. Poverty-ridden parents are trying to sell kids. These girls are exploited at an early age,” said J Godwin Prem Singh, director of Childline.
District Social Welfare Officer S Usha said child marriages are prevalent mostly in Musiri, Mannachanallur, Marungapuri, Thuvarankurichi and Thuraiyur.
“What would a Class IV student know about marriage? It is her parents who need counselling,” she said referring to the Thottiyanayakar girl. About 600 children are training at centres working under the Child Labour Elimination and Effective Rehabilitation Society (CHEERS) set up by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in Tiruchy.
About 89% of girls who were married at the age of 13-17 are affected by health issues and sexual violence, showed a pilot study conducted by the Campaign for Ending Girl Child Marriages In Tamil Nadu. As many as 297 victims from five districts, participated in the study.
Keeping busy year-round
49 cases of child marriage stopped in 2016
69 cases of child marriage stopped in 2017
12 cases of child marriage stopped in by this time January 2017. This year, the count of cases stopped till now is 8
Source: Childline 1098, Tiruchy