118 Child Marriages prevented in this State amid Lockdown

Timely intervention by the women and child welfare department resulted in cancellation of 118 child marriages arranged in Karnataka during April, when the state was in the grip of Covid-19 and the consequent lockdown.

In April, the department received 129 child marriage-related complaints from across the state and its child protection officers successfully prevented 118 of them.

However, 11 marriages couldn’t be stopped. One of them had been held in Coimbatore in September 2019 but was brought to the notice of the department only in April 2020. The 10 other marriages took place in April, officials said.

April and May are known to be the season for child marriages and the department took several precautionary measures, say officials. It has prevented 356 child marriages in all till April-end this year.

According to KA Dayananda, director, women and child welfare department, the number of child marriages prevented is the highest ever in April 2020.

He said:

Curiously, the marriages were all set to to be conducted in the thick of the lockdown.

“But in rural areas, there was movement of people and vehicles between villages unlike in urban areas,” said Dayananda.

Vasudeva Sharma NB, nodal director of Childline (1098), and executive director, Child Rights Trust, said several child marriages might have still taken place in April without them being reported anywhere.

He said:

 The department has filed FIRs in seven of these cases so far. Two cases were registered in Tumakuru, one in Shivamogga and four in Mysuru.

The highest number of child marriages were prevented in Mysuru and Chitradurga (21 each), followed by Belagavi (12), Ballari (10) and seven each in Shivamogga, Koppal and Chikkamagaluru districts.

Interestingly, no such complaints were reported from Yadgir, Mandya, Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Haveri and Ramanagara districts.

Pic Coutrsey: WorldAtlas.com

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