For Champa, 13, marriage meant wearing new clothes, eating good food and dancing with her friends. On June 20 this year she was to get married along with two other minor girls of 14 and 15 years of age. Belonging to the lower caste family in Firozpur village in impoverished Chandauli district of Uttar Pradesh, the parents of these girls wanted to get rid of the burden of their daughters. A mass marriage was planned secretly to save money. The plans were leaked out and officials averted the marriage.
“I never thought in my wildest of dreams that parents will go for child marriage in lockdown and Covid pandemic when strict guidelines are issued and police are on high alert. But actually child marriages have taken place secretly. Some marriages were averted after they came to knowledge but the actual number of marriages is much more than what is being reported,” Sangeeta Sharma, member, Child Welfare Committee in Lucknow, State capital of Uttar Pradesh said.
Following the spread of the Covid pandemic and introduction of lockdown and social distancing, many people lost jobs and other income streams became uncertain, especially for people among the poorer strata. As the pressure on household finances mount, marrying girls off, even at a young age, is being seen as an option for parents for reducing future household expenditure and meeting parental responsibilities.
The comparative data shows that the number of child marriages has actually gone up in some provinces of India during the Covid pandemic. In the central Indian State of Madhya Pradesh the number of child marriages between November 2019 and March 2020 was 46 but it jumped to 117 in just three months of lockdown from April to June 2020. Similarly in Chhattisgarh only 18 cases were reported in five months prior to the spread of Covid but during the first three months of lockdown the number shot up to 58. In Uttar Pradesh, 36 marriages took place between November and March while 27 cases of child marriage were reported between April and June.
The ChildLine India claims that 5,214 marriages were reported in just four months of lockdown between March to June across India.
“From our experiences and data reported with the district helplines shows that the majority of the cases have not been reported. If demographic survey data on district/State level prevalence of child marriage is taken into consideration, the reported cases are just tip of the iceberg,” Priyanka Sreenath, Deputy Director MAMTA, an NGO that works with girl child, said.
Poverty and social norms are considered the primary factor which forces parents to marry off their minor daughters at a tender age.
“The poor people were worst affected. The lower strata in India still believe daughters as a burden on them. They want to get rid of them at the earliest because they believe by marrying off their daughter they will be able to save some expenses,” Surojit Chatterjee of Save The Children said.
In Chitrakoot in Uttar Pradesh an alcoholic daily wage labourer took Rs 50,000 for the marriage of his 13-year-old daughter from the boy’s family. The father was unemployed. The marriage was averted by members of civil society. The girl informed the team that she was against the marriage and her father was forcibly getting her married.
There are cases too where girl agree for marriage despite knowing that child marriage is illegal.
Neetu, in Shivpuri Madhya Pradesh, was to get married on April 20. Her family is a marginalised landless poor family and lives in thatched house. Mother and younger brother of Neetu work as daily wage labourers while Neetu stays at home and takes care of household responsibility. Neetu and her brother are school dropouts. Neetu left studies to take care of disabled sister who died 2 years ago.
Her marriage was stopped after administration came to know that she was minor. Neetu told officials that she was aware that marriage was illegal but she did not oppose it as she was frightened by some of the incidence of the molestations in the neighborhood. She said as her mother and brother go to work, she has to remain all alone at home which causes threat to her safety.
“So when the mother asked for marriage, I gave her consent,” she told the officials.
Ramesh Jatav, father of 12 children including six girls in Bahraich district was reprimanded after he tried to get his 17-year-old daughter to get married forcibly. The girl was against marriage and she called up the Women Helpline for help.
“In our society it is normal for a girl to get married once she is 15 or 16 years of age. It is difficult to resist the social pressures. I have six daughters and I need to get them married at the earliest,” Jatav said.
In India the legal marriage age of boys is 21 years and that of girls it is 18 years. To prevent child marriage the Government of India enacted the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 which came into effect from November 1, 2007.
(Name of girls have been changed to conceal their identity)
Thursday, 29 October 2020 | Biswajeet Banerjee | Lucknow
