BENGALURU: In a disturbing disclosure, a minor girl from Jigalur village in Ballari district, during a recent public hearing, reportedly told the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) that 21 minor girls in her village had got married in the past two years.
“The KSCPCR had called for a public hearing on the impact of the pandemic on children. It was during a hearing on November 6 in Ballari district that a Class 10 student said that as many as 21 minor girls in her village had got married since the beginning of the pandemic. We had constituted a task force, a fact-finding committee to gather information on the number of child marriages that have taken place; number of pregnancies resulting from these marriages and other relevant information. The Department of Women and Child Development is also looking into the issue,” said former chairperson of KSCPCR Fr Anthony Sebastian.
In another instance, a Class 10 student from Kadakol, in Gadag district, had also complained of many instances of child marriage in her village. Anthony said that child marriage is an indicator of many social issues such as poverty, ignorance, socio-economic conditions, indigenous tribal customs and cultures, lack of access to education, nutrition and school dropouts etc.
“Many girls dropped out of school for lack of toilets. It is a serious issue. The KSCPCR had directed the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Hassan district to file a complaint against the headmaster of a government school, under Section 75 of the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Act, amounting to cruelty against children for lack of toilets for students ,” he added.
On the issue of the government’s move to raise the marriageable age of girls from 18 years to 21 years, he said that while the intention behind the law is progressive, its implementation would be an issue because the ground reality is very different.
“Girls are married at an early age for various reasons, keeping in mind socio-economic conditions and cultural customs of people. Child marriages are more prevalent in North Karnataka and pockets of Mysuru and Chamarajanagara districts. In tribal communities in HD Kote taluk, many minor girls are married soon after they attain puberty because it is customary to do so. Mass awareness and access to education, skill training and uplift of socio-economic conditions of families should go alongside such legislations to prevent child marriages,” he added.
Meanwhile, ‘Young Voices’ -- a collective of 2,500 young people from 15 states, supported by 96 civil society organisations from across the country in a letter to parliamentarians, has stated that “raising the age at marriage through law would only criminalise -- not prevent -- early marriage”. “Merely having a new minimum age of marriage for women at 21 years, without the presence of enabling opportunities in the form of access to higher education and decent job opportunities translates effectively into young women being even more trapped in their natal homes,” the collective has added.
The ‘Young Voices’ added that there is growing evidence that early marriage is the “consequence” of older girls dropping out of school and lacking viable employment opportunities - it does not cause dropouts. “According to several studies, it is the failures and shortcomings of our education system that are prompting our youth -- both boys and girls -- to drop out. Nor does early marriage cause high fertility; in fact, fertility rates have been dropping to below replacement levels in most Indian states, including those with relatively high prevalence of early marriage. Poverty, not early marriage, is the main cause of the ill-health of mothers and their newborns,” the collective has added in its letter to lawmakers.