BHUBANESWAR: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has asked the state government to take all necessary steps to prevent mass child marriages on Akshaya Tritiya, which will celebrated on May 10 this year.
In a letter to district collectors, the panel asked them to reach out to people involved in weddings like priests, caterers, tent house owners, wedding card printers, and create awareness among them on the ills of child marriages and report such weddings to officials concerned.
People choose Akshya Tritiya, to solemnise mass marriages in temples away from public glare. Under section 13(4) of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, for the purposes of preventing solemnisation of mass child marriages on certain days, such as Akshaya Tritiya, the district magistrates are deemed to be the child marriage prohibition officers.
The officials have been asked to identify children who can be at the risk of child marriages - dropouts, out of school children and those not attending schools regularly - and submit a report on them to the NCPCR by April 1. Children at the risk of child marriage will be identified from the report and their families counselled on the issue.
In some districts of Odisha, mostly tribal-dominated ones, incidences of child marriages are high. Nabarangpur, for instance, has a child marriage incendence higher than the national average.