Nalgonda: Parents of minor girls who sought to take advantage of the Covid-triggered lockdown and the subsequent restrictions kept officials of the District Child Protection Unit on their toes in the just gone by 2020, when telephone calls to complain about child marriages almost doubled when compared to 2019.
According to official figures, 51 complaints were received by the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) on child marriages in 2020 and a majority of them were averted by the officials through timely response. In 2019, the number of complaints received by the officials was just 28. The month-wise complaints of child marriages in 2020 were as follows two each in February and April, seven each in May, June and December, five each in July, August and September, three in October and eight in November.
Speaking to Telangana Today, District Child Protection Officer Ganesh said there were multiple factors that led to the increase in numbers of parents trying to get their underaged daughters married during 2020. One reason was that the parents believed that their actions would go unnoticed because of the restriction particularly since they could perform the marriages in their house in the presence of just the family members of the bride and groom.
“Except for four or five marriages, we stopped all child marriages by acting swiftly and produced the victims before the Child Welfare Committee. We also counselled the parents and took written assurance from them that they would not make any further effort to perform the marriage of their daughters till they attain the age of 18,” he said, adding that except in two cases where the girls were aged 16 and 17 years, the remaining two girls were aged 13 years.
He said the unit got information about child marriages through various sources including ChildLine and Sakhi Centre. “In some cases, we received phone calls from minor girls saying that their parents were forcibly performing their marriage. Immediately, we alerted the Child Marriages Prohibition Officer who also informed the Circle Inspector of the area, and with their help, stopped child marriages,” Ganesh said.
He said most of the phone calls received by him were just a few hours before the marriage. “Reaching the venue was a challenging task for the Child Protection Unit and ChildLine teams. In a couple of cases, unfortunately, we reached the venue after the completion of marriage due to the long distance we had to cover. We produced the minor girls of such marriages before CWC and also made it clear to the parents that the marriage that was performed was not valid under the rules,” he said.
“I have been working as the DCPO of the district for the last six years and have faced a tough time in dealing with some child marriages. Relatives would pick up an argument and even try to attack the team since the families would have already spent huge amounts on arrangements for the marriage. The police play a crucial role in stopping such incidents,” he said.
Child Welfare Committee member B Venkatratnam said non-bailable cases are registered against those responsible for child marriages under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2016, which is punishable with rigorous imprisonment extending to two years or fine which may go up to Rs 1 lakh or both imprisonment and fine. Victims of child marriages are sent to a rescue home,” he added.
Peoples’ Foundation chairman Y Sunil said there are other reasons too that force parents to go in for child marriage including fulfilling the wish of aged persons in the family to see the marriage of their daughters or the so-called behaviour of girls. In some cases of love marriage, the boys are minors and girls major in the age that also makes the marriage null and void.
“Some parents book function halls for marriages of their minor daughters. The district authorities should make it mandatory for function hall management to ensure that the bride and groom are not minors before taking the bookings,” he opined.
Now you can get handpicked stories from Telangana Today onTelegrameveryday. Click the link to subscribe.