A step that could help curb child marriages

The government has empowered PDOs to register marriages

The Karnataka government has taken a welcome step in empowering Panchayat Development Officers (PDO) to register marriages at the village level. The move should help bring down child marriages, which continue to be quite prevalent in rural areas. Until now, couples had to travel to the taluk headquarters to get their marriages registered at the sub-registrar’s office, a hassle that discouraged many from making the effort to register their marriages. Another result was that even in the case of those who did register, underage marriages often went undetected due to oversight or other factors. PDOs, on the other hand, are not only familiar with most inhabitants of the village but also enjoy a close rapport with them and are hence in a position to easily detect and prevent child marriages. Over 2,000 child marriages were stopped in the state in 2021, while the pandemic years saw an upswing in such cases. According to Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) Department Additional Chief Secretary L K Atheeq, by enabling PDOs to register marriages, births and deaths, a comprehensive database can be maintained at the gram panchayat level, which will help curb child marriages and, in general, protect the rights of women.

Marriage registration is not mandatory in the state. So, unless the government takes steps to encourage people to do so, especially in rural areas, the perceived benefits of the new rule may not accrue. Activists have for long demanded that registration of marriages be made compulsory, as is the case with births and deaths, considering the benefits of doing so. For one, with the government proposing to digitise marriage records, detection of polygamy would become easy. While the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, recognises the ceremonial marriage of Hindus, Jains and Sikhs as legal even in the absence of registration, a formal certificate would come in handy, especially during legal proceedings such as for divorce. Even to this day, many couples depend on wedding invitation cards and wedding photographs to prove their marital status, and this often works to the disadvantage of women. Besides, activists argue, there is still a possibility of child marriages going undetected as such couples may not come forward to register their wedlock even with the PDO unless it is made mandatory.

While empowering the PDOs might on its own increase the number of registrations to some extent, mainly due to the accessibility of the gram panchayat office, a more robust response may be got by educating and encouraging people to come forward to register, or perhaps even making registration mandatory.