WARANGAL/JANGAON/MULUGU: When preventing child marriages continues to be a huge challenge for Child Protection department officials as they face a lot of resistance from local communities in the erstwhile Warangal district, there are shocking instances of minor girls and boys of Gothi Koya tribals living together in some hamlets in Mulugu district.
When contacted by TNIE, Mulugu district welfare officer of Women, Children, Disabled and Senior Citizens EP Prem Latha confirmed that children belonging to Gothi Koya community are living together, without entering into wedlock, in some hamlets of the Agency area. With the help of Anganwadi staff concerned, the department has found a few minor girls were also pregnant.
“We gave counselling to the parents of the children about the ill effects of cohabitation between minor girls and boys,” she said.Some child marriages are being prevented with the timely intervention of child protection officials, Prem Latha said, adding that apart from increasing vigilance, they are creating awareness on the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act from village to the district level.
According to the data obtained by TNIE, from September 2021 to September 2022, in Jangaon, Mulugu and Warangal districts, a total of 102 child marriages were foiled by the District Child Protection units.
Parents are forcing their minor daughters into wedlock due to poverty, ignorance and illiteracy. The officials have found that lack of livelihood is the main reason behind parents marrying off their minor daughters.
Another reason the officials have found for the perpetuation of the evil practice is the fear of social stigma among parents in the event of girls falling in love with boys outside their castes and eloping with their boyfriends. The fear is haunting people in the rural areas as there are growing cases of girls running away with their boyfriends, bringing ‘disrepute’ to their families. In such cases, the parents lose no time in getting their daughters married off.According to Mulugu District Child Protection officials, tribals mostly perform marriage of their minor daughters in a hush-hush manner, even without inviting their relatives.
102 child marriages foiled
According to the data obtained by this newspaper, between September 2021 and September 2022, a total of 102 child marriages were foiled by the District Child Protection units in Jangaon,Mulugu and Warangal districts