CHENNAI: Several stakeholders who participated in the state-wide consultation meeting for child marriage-free India stressed the importance of enforcing the law. Even officials from the social defence department and child welfare committees said it requires a lot of work to get FIR registered in child marriage cases, at the meet organised by the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation along with the TN social welfare department.
There is a fear among the police to break the cultural norms and often those who facilitate child marriages, including the family members, are left with warnings, they added. This assumes significance amid charges of huge under-reporting and non-registration of child marriage cases. The 2011 census reported that 3.8 lakh children were married off before attaining the legal age of marriage in the state. The National Family Health Survey-V (NFHS 2019-21) reports that nationally 23.3% of women between the age group of 20-24 had been married off before attaining the age of 18. The number of cases filed was a mere 46 in 2019 and 169 in 2021.
Providing higher education within a short distance, increasing the strength of social defence officials and linking the laws including Child Marriage Prohibition Act, 2006, POCSO Act and Juvenile Justice Act were also discussed at the meeting. The activists also stressed that sex education and the creation of awareness about the available laws should be spread at the level of schools. They should be part of the curriculum and parents should also be made aware of them. This apart, village-level representatives should be used effectively to prevent child marriage in a locality, they added.
Numbers don’t tally
The National Family Health Survey-V reports that nationally 23.3% of women in 20-24 age group had been married off before attaining the age of 18. The number of cases filed was a mere 46 in 2019 and 169 in 2021