Back in 1929, the government had passed a law banning the practice of child marriage, yet many remote areas still continue the tradition, which propagates the exploitation of little girls and boys across the country.
As per reports, at least 92,203 interventions were made between the months of May and July by Childline, a nodal government agency which provides aid to the children. Of these, 5,584 were related to child marriage.
According to a report in The Times of India, child marriage has witnessed a surge in Maharashtra during the coronavirus induced lockdown. With the health risks, has come the economic baggage that a lot of workers, now with their daily wager sources of income gone, are trying to cope with. This has in return positioned the little girls in a vulnerable position with no education and no jobs leading to several families marrying their daughters off to make their lives more comfortable.
In these precarious situations, what has come forward in terms of observational data is that many factors such as poverty, the perception that marriage will provide ‘protection’, family honour, social norms, and an inadequate legislative framework, have played a part in this regressive aspect of our societal structure.
Moreover, the pandemic has exposed a lot of issues pertaining to the country that has been ingrained in our system. In order to initiate dialogue, CRY along with NGO Vidhayak Bharti released a handbook last month on roles of Bal Sanrakshan Samitis in a bid to tackle child protection at a community level.
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