India orders inquiry into child marriages
INDIA’S top court has ordered three states to investigate reports of thousands of child marriages, despite a ban on the centuries-old tradition.
State human rights commissions in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh would launch inquiries into the secret marriages of children, some as young as toddlers, said Aparna Bhat, a lawyer who filed a petition.
In India, females are permitted to marry when they turn 18, while for males the age is 21.
In the last week alone, it is believed up to 300 children have taken part in illegal marriages.
Over the years, villagers have become aggressive and attacked social activists trying to stop child marriages. Last week, a man chopped off a woman official’s hands with a sword in the central state of Madhya Pradesh for trying to stop child marriages.
Girja Vyas, head of the National Commission of Women, which has been campaigning against the custom, said: "There’s been an awakening since 1929, when the custom was outlawed, but it has not been wiped out. Extreme poverty, especially in drought-prone areas, make people get their daughters married regardless of age."
According to the 2001 census, 6.4 million Indians under the age of 18 were married, with Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh accounting for a large chunk of such unions.
The custom is believed to have started around 1,000 years ago when Hindus had their daughters married young to try to prevent Muslim invaders from taking them away. In more recent times, grinding poverty forced villagers to marry off their daughters at a young age because society dictated the girls were a financial burden.
Women’s groups say that although the girls are only sent to their husbands’ homes once they reach puberty, the marriage of young girls affects their health because they have children early. In many cases girls are abandoned by their husbands and social customs and traditions make it impossible for them to marry again.
INDIA’S top court has ordered three states to investigate reports of thousands of child marriages, despite a ban on the centuries-old tradition.
State human rights commissions in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh would launch inquiries into the secret marriages of children, some as young as toddlers, said Aparna Bhat, a lawyer who filed a petition.
In India, females are permitted to marry when they turn 18, while for males the age is 21.
In the last week alone, it is believed up to 300 children have taken part in illegal marriages.
Over the years, villagers have become aggressive and attacked social activists trying to stop child marriages. Last week, a man chopped off a woman official’s hands with a sword in the central state of Madhya Pradesh for trying to stop child marriages.
Girja Vyas, head of the National Commission of Women, which has been campaigning against the custom, said: "There’s been an awakening since 1929, when the custom was outlawed, but it has not been wiped out. Extreme poverty, especially in drought-prone areas, make people get their daughters married regardless of age."
According to the 2001 census, 6.4 million Indians under the age of 18 were married, with Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh accounting for a large chunk of such unions.
The custom is believed to have started around 1,000 years ago when Hindus had their daughters married young to try to prevent Muslim invaders from taking them away. In more recent times, grinding poverty forced villagers to marry off their daughters at a young age because society dictated the girls were a financial burden.
Women’s groups say that although the girls are only sent to their husbands’ homes once they reach puberty, the marriage of young girls affects their health because they have children early. In many cases girls are abandoned by their husbands and social customs and traditions make it impossible for them to marry again.