Early child marriages in Haryana

In India, child marriage has been practiced for centuries. The problem of child marriages in India is a complex one because of the interplay of religious traditions, social practices, economic factors and blind beliefs. There are varied estimates of the data on the extent and scale of child marriages.Haryana in North India is already suffering due to skewed sex ratio which has forced many families to purchase brides from states like Bihar and West Bengal. Besides this, Haryana is now also witnessing a rise in child marriages. Prohibition officers of Sonipat and Panipat have confirmed an increase in the prevalence of child marriages in these districts. A study conducted by Tata Institute of Social Sciences stated that as many as 278 complaints of child marriage were received in the State from October 2014 to December 2015. During this period, 129 child marriages were prevented with counselling and 30 through injunction orders. The remaining complaints were either referred to police for necessary action or applications were given for nullity under Section 3 of the Child Marriage prohibition Act. Haryana Government has now sought a status report from various departments on the action taken by them to prevent child marriages.This study shows that child marriages are very much a reality in both these districts. Child marriage not only steals the childhood and innocence away from these girls but also puts them in grave danger physically, mentally and psychologically. Child marriage is a complete defilement of human rights, which leaves physical, psychological and emotional scars for life. These children become sexually active soon after marriage which leads to pregnancy and childbirth at an early age which further can lead to maternal as well as infant mortality.Eradicating child marriage is a long and continuous process. Multiple sustainable efforts are required in this front. Changes have to come from the communities itself. Some of the recommendations for preventing child marriages are as follows:<ul><li>Educating and Empowering young girls – girls in the communities should be educated and encouraged to learn various life skills such as health and hygiene, communication skills, family planning, leadership qualities etc. They should be made aware of their rights. They have to learn how to handle money which will help them become independent. They should be encouraged to form collectives and learn from each other</li><li>bring attitudinal changes within the families and communities – awareness generation programmes should be held at regular intervals in the communities which talks about marriages and its impact on the young girls. Programmes like meetings, campaigns, street plays, public announcements at regular intervals will help instigate changes on the families. Traditions have to be challenged and ill effects of it have to be clearly made visible in front of them</li><li>providing resource centres in communities – setting up of resource centres with the help of NGOs is another way of dealing with child marriages. These will be youth friendly centres, especially for young girls. These centres will act as a safe space to talk about issues at their homes or in their neighborhood. These centres will provide information on various issues such as health, hygiene, menstruation etc.</li><li>involve boys and men in addressing child marriage – it is very important that boys and men are involved in addressing the issue of child marriage as they are the perpetuators of violence. They have to be made aware of the ill effects of child marriage and how they can contribute in dealing with this issue</li><li>linking adolescent pregnant mothers to health system It is very important to link adolescent mothers to the existing health systems. They should have increased access to health services. They should be aware various health benefits, schemes available for them. They should be well informed about various forms of family planning methods and how to take care of new born infants</li><li>income generation programmes for families of young girls – poverty is one of the main causes of child marriages in the rural areas. Parents marry off their daughters together to save money without realizing the ill effects of child marriage. Income generation programmes should be mobilized which enhances the economic security of poor households which aid in curbing child marriages</li><li>educational Institutions to be actively involved in keeping a watch on child marriages  – school teachers are the first ones who know if any girl is getting married in their school. It’s very important that they are linked with the police or prohibition officers who can support them in rescuing girls going into child marriage. Schools should organize awareness programmes for adolescent girls</li><li>awareness programmes with police force – complaints of child marriage come to the police initially. In many cases, the police avoids arresting the persons involved seeing the poverty of the family or other circumstances. They fail to empathize with the young girls who are married off without realizing what future holds for them. Police personals have to understand the impact of child marriage on these girls</li><li>robust legal framework – cases of child marriages should be taken up immediately and culprits should be punished under the law. The prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 states that it is not only the parents of the groom that are to be arrested, but individuals involved in marrying the couple, guests who have witnessed this union and so on. When arrests are made in such a large number, people will fear the system. 10. Political Will The role of people’s representatives such as Members of Parliament, Legislative Assemblies and local bodies is crucial as they interact with people regularly. They should be educated on the need for advocacy against child marriage. Politicians should be vigilant about the Human Rights Conventions like CRC, CEDAW and other related treaties and whether they are being fully implemented at the state level</li></ul>Please note: you will need to register for a password (free of charge) in order to download this paper.