Step up fight against underage marriages: Child rights body to state govts

In a bid to stop instances of child marriage, the Centre has asked states to prepare a list of students across schools, with a special emphasis on students who remain absent without intimation. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has written to states asking them to prepare the lists among a host of other measures by April 20, days ahead of the Akshaya Tritiya festival, celebrated annually on May 3.

The NCPCR has asked state governments to prepare a school-wise list of children who have dropped out and are not attending school regularly, and a school-wise list of children absent from school without intimation to the Principal or the school. These lists are to be prepared by the education department of the state and shared with district magistrates.

The lists, the NCPCR has said, is as per Rule 2B of Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Amendment Rules, 2017. The Rule states that a child can assist their family without affecting their education, and if that assistance is not in any manner part of any occupation or business and does not take place between school hours and between 7 pm and 8 am.

Apart from that, states must also take up awareness programmes at all levels, and conduct meetings on awareness programmes on child marriage with all concerned stakeholders. The child rights body has further asked state officials to interact with local religious priests who may be performing marriages and such services during this period.

NCPCR chief Priyank Kanungo said that while such meetings are an annual affair, this year, the child rights body has made the directives gender-neutral. “Children who get married usually falter in attending classes in the days prior to it. Attendance is a key indicator, and this might help us identify such cases,” said Kanungo.

In addition to it, the NCPCR will also hold a review meeting virtually with districts with the highest number of such instances on April 21.

The ministry of women and child development in reply to a Parliament question in the Rajya Sabha has said that in the last three years, there were 1809 cases of child marriage reported in the country. Arunachal Pradesh, with 341 cases, accounted for the highest number of cases, followed by West Bengal with 236, and Karnataka with 217.

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