Child marriage, no minor issue

As in previous years, this year too on Akshaya Tritiya or Akha Teej, a day considered auspicious by Hindus and Jains, children – many barely in their teens – were married off in several parts of India. This, despite the fact that for almost four decades now, 18 years has been the legal age for marriage of females and 21 years for males. Although child marriage is less widely practiced in India than in the past, the number of such marriages is still worryingly high. According to the 2001 census, nearly 17 million children in the 10-19-year-age group, i.e. 6 per cent of the age group, were married. Seventy-five per cent of married children are girls and almost all are from economically underprivileged families. Child marriage is wrong not just because children should not have to shoulder the responsibilities that come with marriage, but also because of its health and other consequences. Early marriage often means early child bearing. An adolescent’s body is not ready for bearing children and results in high rates of maternal and child mortality. When young girls are married to much older men, their bargaining capacity in the relationship is limited, which means their choices in the marriage are restricted. Many girls are widowed young.

India has laws that clearly spell out the legal age for marriage. The difficulty in dealing with this social problem is that after a child marriage is solemnised, there is little the police or activists can do. Declaring the marriage illegal is hardly helpful as it is the child who will suffer, because nobody will marry her thereafter. This underscores the importance of acting before a marriage is solemnised. Prevention rather than punishment is clearly the best way to deal with the problem.

The police are on alert at child marriage hotspots like Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the run up to Akha Teej and many child marriages are prevented as well. There are helplines too that provide support to the children being forced to marry. However, these steps are clearly inadequate. Creating public awareness on the many problematic consequences of child marriage is important. Unfortunately, such campaigns are crippled by the fact that many public figures themselves were children when they married. A third of Rajasthan’s MLAs were reportedly married off as children. It is important that they come out in criticism of child marriage. Awareness campaigns must target migrant and tribal communities that are among the highest practitioners of child marriage and incentives provided for putting off the age of marriage of their children.