VISAKHAPATNAM: The strict vigilance and a series of awareness campaigns appear to have yielded a little in curbing the child marriages in this district as the family elders continue to tie the knots their minor children. At a time when the child marriages continue unabated, the authorities do not have even a database on the number of cases. As per a rough estimate, the child marriages cases reported last year were almost the double that of the previous year and most of the cases were reported from urban belts, sources say.
From May to December 2017, only 31 child marriages were thwarted by the officials of district women and child welfare department as against the 13 in 2016. According to officials, the District Child Protection Unit of Visakhapatnam has stopped 134 child marriages since 2012.The district administration has formed separate teams for all vulnerable villages, with village revenue officers (VROs) and panchayat secretaries as the members and it has been made mandatory to obtain certificates for marriages. However, allegations are being made that many VROs and panchayat secretaries do not report child marriages, fearing backlash on the basis of caste, community and social stigma.
“In small villages, almost every family maintains a rapport with the VRO concerned. As the officials are not free from caste bias, many marriages are performed right under their nose,” said a senior officer of Child & Women Welfare Department, adding that the awareness campaigns are done perfunctorily in most of the villages.
Illiteracy, social stigma and pressure from kin force many to perform marriages of their minor children. Such cases are rampant in almost all the mandals in the Visakha Agency and in the rural areas.Further, District Child Protection Unit officials say that child marriages are reported not only from tribal areas but also from urban pockets including Akkayyapalem, One Town, Pedawaltair & Old Gajuwaka.
Admitting that only a few cases come under their lens, District Child Protection Officer A Satyanarayana said after receiving credible information, they raid the wedding venues, counsel parents and take a written undertaking that they won’t perform their ward’ marriage until they become majors.