In early April 2024, the world woke up to the disturbing news of a 62-year-old high priest in Ghana marrying a 12-year-old girl at an event attended by many community members.
Closer home, while one in four girls in India are married below the legal age, in 257 high-prevalence districts of the country the incidence of child marriage is more than the national average of 23.3 percent, according to the National Family Health Survey.
By the time you finish reading this article, hundreds of marriages would have been planned to be solemnised on Akshaya Tritiya or Akha Teej, which falls on May 10 this year. While the day is considered auspicious for marriages, the socially accepted crime of child marriage also takes place on this occasion.
The law of the land is clear. From the Age of Consent Bill 1860, and the Indian Penal Code provisions barring abduction for the purpose of marriage, to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 (PCMA), India has one of the most comprehensive legal systems to prevent child marriage.
The Supreme Court dealt with the issue of sexual intercourse with a child in a marital relationship as an offence tantamount to child rape, first in Bachpan Bachao Andolan vs Union of India in January 2017 and then in Independent Thought vs Union of India. Yet people continue to celebrate the crime as a happy occasion due to many reasons: cultural acceptance, disparity in laws, poverty, safety concerns for the girl child, patriarchy and gender issues.
In recent years, several high courts have opined that child marriage is allowed under personal laws in various communities. Such orders are in direct conflict with the PCMA, POCSO Act as well as Supreme Court judgements, and have created an avoidable confusion. Despite these challenges, data from the last three rounds of the National Family Health Survey signify a substantial reduction in early marriages, largely to the efforts of civil society and the government, particularly through laws like the Right to Education Act 2009.
In NFHS-3 (2005-06), a staggering 44.7 percent of women were found to have been married before 18. NFHS-4 (2015-16) captured a significant shift, with the share dropping to 26.8 percent. This trend continued to NFHS-5 (2019-21), where the share fell further to 23.3 percent.
Globally, eliminating child marriage was not high on the list of priorities for most countries until it was included in the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (target 5.3: “eliminate all harmful practices, such as child, early and forced marriage and female genital mutilations”). Consequently, 193 member states are now racing to eliminate the practice by 2030. In the past decade, at least eight countries have outlawed child marriage or have increased the minimum marriage age. But in the US, child marriage continues to be legal in 38 out of the 50 states.
India is home to a third of the world’s child brides, according to UNICEF. Thus, the recent initiatives in India on awareness, education as well as strict law enforcement, like Assam’s anti-child marriage drive, may become the first step towards putting the country at the forefront of global efforts on the count.
The year 2023 saw the world’s largest social mobilisation against child marriage, led by 54 government departments across India, leading to over 5 crore people pledging against the practice under the aegis of the Child Marriage Free India campaign. This Akshaya Tritiya will be a litmus test for those who were a part of this campaign to convert the resolve into deliverables.
First, state governments must prevent mass child marriages through awareness and law enforcement. Awareness campaigns can include school workshops, street plays, and checking the ages of brides and grooms.
Second, strict enforcement of the PCMA can be ensured if the agencies entrusted to uphold the law, such as the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) that’s conferred with the power of a first-class judicial magistrate, start issuing injunctions. If a child marriage is solemnised despite an injunction, it is considered void. But in a majority of cases, the CWC has confined its role to short-term rehabilitation of children who need protection.
Panchayats can activate child welfare and protection committees at the village, block and district levels to monitor PCMA implementation; conduct counselling sessions for parents and relatives planning to marry off their children; monitor dropouts and stay vigilant for children missing from schools for more than seven days without intimation.
Third, aggressive prosecutorial drives under the PCMA and application of other criminal laws including those on trafficking, child rape and the POCSO Act will create deterrence. Stern messages should be sent by prosecuting priests, qazis and pandits who preside over such unions.
Fourth, it is time quality education is provided to all children, especially girls, till the age of 18. This must also be included in election manifestos of all parties.
In April 2024, India witnessed the heartening news of a girl topping inter examinations in Andhra Pradesh after her underage marriage was stopped and she was able to pursue studies because of the efforts of her local MLA and district magistrate in Kurnool. This girl could be a living testimony of a brighter future. The time to ensure such a future for our children is now. If we fail to protect our children, nothing else would matter.
(Views are personal)
Bhuwan Ribhu | Child rights activist, lawyer and author of When Children Have Children: Tipping Point to End Child Marriage