‘Minor marriages rampant in rural areas’

On January 29, the Child helpline received a call alleging that a 14-yearold girl from Sivagangai was being married off at Mannady. A team of city police, members of ChildLine and District Child Protection Officer rushed to the spot. However, on checking the identification details, the bride was found to be a 19-year-old. 

“The groom was from Chennai and the girl is a native of Sivagangai. She looked younger in appearance than her age. Someone mistook her for a child bride and tipped off the ChildLine. we apologised for the inconvenience and left,” said District Child Protection Officer (DCOP) Shivakumar.    In 2016, just one case was reported in the city. 

“In November, a 14-year-old girl was to marry a 29-year-old relative in Tiruvanmiyur. Our team arrived just in time to stop the marriage. The parents wanted to marry the girl off as she was in a relationship and they worried that she would elope with the lover. Even as the parents declined to disclose the girls true age, we had to pressurise them to speak the truth. We took the parents to the local police station and registered a case. They were asked to come every 15 days and our team visit them once in 30 days to ensure she is not secretly married again,” he said. 

Child Welfare department officials often hold meeting with temple management and with the owners of marriage halls and hotels to create awareness on child marriages and so that they tip off if they come across such cases. Tamil Nadu Commission for Protection of Child Rights committee member A D Revathy said “Even as the city stays clear of child marriages, the sub-urban and rural pockets report alarming number of cases.” 

“Convergence of various departments working on this social issue can bring down the steep number of minor marriages taking place in other districts,” she added. Revathy said the official statistics available at present may not be a true representation of the menace as many cases were unreported.