‘Every day 4,320 children pushed into marriage, only 3 get reported’
NEW DELHI: Three children are pushed into child marriage in India every minute, as per data, that means while 4,320 children are pushed into child marriage every day, only 3 of these cases are even reported. According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report, the number of cases reported has further declined by five per cent from 1,050 in 2021 to 1,002 in 2022.
Moreover, as per the UN estimates, at least 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 years get married every year.
Reflecting on the alarming gap between the child marriages occurring and being reported, Child Marriage Free India founder Bhuwan Ribhu said: “These numbers are a telltale sign of the enormity of the crisis we are dealing with.
For this gap to end, mandatory reporting of child marriages is a prerequisite, along with strict penalties for offenders.
The normalisation of this crime needs to be done away with. Moreover, all efforts of the society and the justice delivery system must aim for the prevention of the crime through the certainty of punishment creating a legal deterrence of the victim and the families.” Child Marriage Free India Campaign, a nationwide campaign led by women activists, is a coalition of over 160 community organisations in more than 300 districts with the aim of eliminating child marriage in India by 2030.
The campaign took an unprecedented turn when 17 state governments took a warlike stance to fight child marriage in their respective states in October this year, directing various departments and officials to accentuate the government’s role in eliminating child marriages from their states.
As per the National Health Family Survey (NHFS) V for 2019-21, India’s current rate of child marriage stands at 23.3 percent, with 257 districts logging child marriages higher than the national average.
Child marriage is child rape, often resulting in child pregnancy, child deaths
and miscarriages.
Noted child rights activist and Supreme Court lawyer, Bhuwan Ribhu has also authored ‘When Children Have Children: Tipping Point to End Child Marriage’ and puts forth a framework advocating a sustainable, holistic and focused strategy – PICKET with time-bound targets and measurable indicators to make India child marriage free by 2030.
