An Unseen National Threat

The story of India’s internal security is often told in the language of borders, terrorism, riots and insurgencies. Rarely do we pause to see the slow-burning fire that eats away at the foundations of stability from within. One such fire is child marriage—an age-old social custom that quietly gnaws at the dignity of children, especially girls, and erodes the country’s capacity for justice, equality and peace. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 2019-21), 23.3% of girls aged 18 to 24 in India were married before turning 18.

Despite the magnitude of the issue, child marriage has rarely been part of mainstream public discourse. The crisis is especially severe in eastern and north-eastern India. West Bengal reports the highest child marriage rate at 41.6%, followed closely by Bihar (40.8%), Tripura (40.1%), Jharkhand (32.2%) and Assam (31.8%). Renowned child rights activist and lawyer Bhuwan Ribhu highlights district-wise data that reveal alarming trends. East Medinapur in West Bengal has a staggering 57.6% child marriage rate, the highest in the country.

This is not just a social tragedy – it is a national security issue. For every girl forced into marriage at 14, for every boy burdened with responsibilities at 16, the ripple effects strike far beyond family walls. They feed trafficking networks, strain policing and courts, deepen cycles of poverty, and create a generation more vulnerable to exploitation and radicalisation. India’s Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) was meant to be a shield. Yet, the gap between law and life is staggering. Every single day, according to estimates, 4,442 child marriages take place in India. But law only catches a whisper of this storm: NCRB data shows that in 2022, just 1002 cases were registered under PCMA. That is less than one case for every 1500 marriages.

Even when cases are registered, justice crawls. Out of 3,563 cases pending trial in 2022, only 181 were concluded. The pendency rate stands at 92%, meaning that at this pace, it will take 19 years to clear existing cases. Conviction rates are abysmally low – just 11%, compared to 34% for all child-related crimes. When justice delays, injustice hardens. This sluggishness tells every girl dragged into a forced marriage that the law cannot hear her. It tells every trafficker, every middleman, and every complicit family member that there is little to fear. In a democracy, where trust in institutions is the bedrock of stability, this is a silent assault on internal security.

The link between child marriage and trafficking is no longer deniable. In 2022, of the 63,513 kidnapped children recovered, a staggering 15,748 (25%) were abducted for marriage or intercourse. Among them, 15,142 were specifically taken for marriage. NCRB data reveals a 24% increase in minor girls kidnapped for marriage between 2020 and 2022.

Behind every such number is a stolen future. Imagine a 15-year-old girl snatched from her schoolyard, transported across state borders and sold into marriage with a man twice her age. Her story is not only of personal violation; it fuels trafficking rings, destabilises families and erodes community trust in law enforcement. These patterns create fault lines within society—fault lines that weaken internal cohesion and become fertile ground for other forms of criminality and extremism. The scars of child marriage are not only physical and emotional – they are economic and political. Girls forced into early marriage usually drop out of school. They face early pregnancies, higher maternal mortality, and poorer health outcomes. Their children, born into cycles of deprivation, are more likely to remain uneducated and undernourished.

This is not just a matter of personal misfortune. It is a blow to India’s collective strength. Human capital—education, health, and productivity of its people—is the true security of any nation. When millions are denied the chance to grow, learn and contribute, India’s future workforce and its social stability are weakened. Moreover, disenfranchised and uneducated youth are prime targets for exploitation. Extremist groups and criminal syndicates thrive on those who have no stake in the system. The spread of child marriage, therefore, inadvertently expands. The pool of vulnerable individuals who can be drawn into radicalisation, insurgencies or trafficking chains.

Internal Security: A Broader Lens

When we speak of internal security, we must learn to widen our lens. It is not only about guarding borders or quelling riots. It is also about ensuring that the most vulnerable citizens—children—are protected from systemic exploitation. Child marriage undermines the rule of law, emboldens trafficking networks, creates vulnerabilities to radicalisation, reduces human capital and erodes community trust. In this way, it destabilises the very foundations upon which the security rests. And conversely, the fight against child marriage—through laws, community action, education, enforcement and awareness—strengthens those very foundations. It reinforces trust in institutions, dismantles trafficking routes, creates healthier and more educated citizens and secures the nation from within.

India cannot afford complacency. To treat child marriage as a cultural leftover rather than a national threat is to overlook its corrosive effect on security. The path forward is clear:

* Stronger enforcement of PCMA, with faster trials and higher conviction rates.

* Appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers nationwide.

* Grassroots vigilance through schools, panchayats and NGOs.

* Public campaigns to shift norms so that marriage before 18 is seen not as tradition but as a crime against the nation’s future.

India’s internal security cannot be measured only in guns, fences or surveillance. It must also be measured in classrooms where girls sit safely, in homes where children dream of futures unbroken by coercion, and in communities where law is stronger than custom.

Child marriage may look like a private affair in a village courtyard, but its consequences ripple into the justice system, the economy and the security of the entire nation. As Bhuwan Ribhu and countless activists remind us, the question is not whether India can end child marriage—it is whether India can afford not to.

Views expressed are personal. The writer, former DGP UP, is currently Advisor in India Child Protection at Delhi