Lok Sabha Question No. 3738 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-08-11
Subject: Child Marriages
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Chandrani Murmu

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3738

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 11.08.2023

## CHILD MARRIAGES

## 3738.  MS. CHANDRANI MURMU:

Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has any data to explain the number of child marriages that  have  taken  place  across  the  country  during  the  last  five  years,  if  so,  the details thereof, State-wise;
- (b) whether there is any increase or decrease in the trend and if so, the reasons therefor;
- (c) the initiatives being taken by the Government to eradicate the practice of child marriage; and
- (d) the main regions and communities where child marriage is rampant?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) & (b): The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes the data on the number of cases of child marriage registered under 'the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006' in its publication 'Crime in India'. The said report is available upto  the  year  2021.  As  per  information  available  with  NCRB,  the  number  of  cases registered under 'the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, (PCMA), 2006' during the last five  years  i.e.  2017,  2018,  2019,  2020  and  2021  are  395,  501,  523,  785  and  1050 respectively. However, higher reporting of cases does not necessarily reflect increase in  the  number  of  cases  of  child  marriages,  but  it  may  be  because  of  increased awareness among citizens to report such incidents due to initiatives by the Government and better enforcement of law by States/ UTs. The State-wise details of child marriage registered under PCMA, 2006 is at Annexure.

(c): The  Government  has  enacted  'the  Prohibition  of  Child  Marriage  Act,  2006' (PCMA) in order to  curb  child  marriages  and  to  take  punitive  actions  against  those associated with child marriages. Section 16 of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) authorises the State Government to appoint for the whole State, or such part there of as may be specified, an officer or officers to be known as the 'Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPO)' having jurisdiction over the area or areas specified in the notification. This section also specifies the functions to be discharged by CMPOs, which also include preventing solemnisation of child marriages by taking such action as they may deem fit;

to collect evidence for the effective prosecution of persons contravening the provisions of the Act; to advise the individuals or counsel the residents of  the locality not to indulge in promoting, helping, aiding or allowing the solemnisation of child marriages; to create awareness about the ill effects of child marriages; and to sensitize the community on the  issue  of  child  marriages.  These  authorities  function  under  the  respective  State Governments/ UT Administrations. As such, implementation of the provisions of the Act lies with them.

'Police' and 'Public Order' are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. The responsibilities to maintain law and order, protection of life and property of the citizens, investigation and prosecution of crime against women and children  including  prohibition  of  child  marriages,  rest  with  the  respective  State Governments. The State Governments are competent to deal with such offenses under the extant provisions of laws.

Nevertheless,  the  Central  Government  undertakes  awareness  drives,  media campaigns and outreach programs and issues advisories to the States/ UTs from time to time to highlight evil effects of this practice. The Ministry has also written to all States/ UTs to increase the number of CMPOs, as presence of Statutory Officer at local levels would result in even more effective public engagement on the subject and prevention of solemnisation of child marriage. Further, the Ministry of Women and Child Development implements  the  Beti  Bachao  Beti  Padhao  (BBBP)  component  under  the  umbrella scheme 'Mission Shakti', wherein creation of awareness on matters pertaining to gender equality  and  discouraging  child  marriage  is  an  important  focus  area.  The  National Commission  for  Protection  of  Child  Rights  (NCPCR)  also  undertakes  awareness programs  and  consultations  with  stakeholders  from  time  to  time  in  this  regard.  In addition, Government of India has introduced CHILDLINE with short code 1098, a 24X7 telephone  emergency  outreach  service  for  children  in  crisis  which  responds  with suitable interventions to call for any form of assistance which a child requires, including for prevention of child marriages in coordination with police, Child Marriage Prohibition Officers (CMPOs), District Child Protection Units etc.

(d): Instances  have  come to  the notice  that  some  sections of  society  continue  to indulge  in  the  practice  of  child  marriage  in  the  name  of  custom,  practices  and/  or religious beliefs etc. In some cases, writ petitions have also been filed before Hon'ble Courts of law for upholding the validity of marriage of a minor girl on these grounds under personal laws. The Government has introduced a Bill namely 'the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Parliament on 21.12.2021 for raising the age of marriage of women to 21 years to make it at par with the men. The proposed Bill also has provisions to make consequential amendments in the enactments, inter alia, relating to age of marriage of parties, such as 'The Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872', 'The  Parsi  Marriage  and  Divorce  Act,  1936',  'The  Muslim  Personal  Law  (Shariat) Application Act, 1937', 'The Special Marriage Act, 1954', 'The Hindu Marriage Act, 1955', and 'The Foreign Marriage Act, 1969'. The Bill has since been referred to Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports for examination.

Further, since enactment of PCMA, the prevalence of child marriage has reduced by half from 47% in 2006 to 23.3% during 2019-21 (NFHS-5). However, a few States such as Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Telangana, Tripura and West Bengal have higher prevalence of child marriage than national average as per NFHS-5.

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## ANNEXURE REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PART (a) & (b) OF THE LOK SABHA UNSTARRED  QUESTION  NO.3738  FOR  ANSWER  ON  11.08.2023  ASKED  BY  MS. CHANDRANI MURMU REGARDING 'CHILD MARRIAGES'

The State-wise details of child marriage registered under PCMA, 2006 during the last five years i.e. 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

| SL                            | State/UT                      | 2017   | 2018   | 2019   | 2020   | 2021   |
|-------------------------------|-------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|--------|--------|
|                               |                               | CR     | CR     | CR     | CR     | CR     |
| 1Andhra Pradesh               | 1Andhra Pradesh               | 15     | 14     | 4      | 32     | 19     |
| 2Arunachal Pradesh            | 2Arunachal Pradesh            | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 3Assam                        | 3Assam                        | 58     | 88     | 115    | 138    | 155    |
| 4Bihar                        | 4Bihar                        | 17     | 35     | 8      | 5      | 11     |
| 5Chhattisgarh                 | 5Chhattisgarh                 | 1      | 2      | 0      | 1      | 0      |
| 6Goa                          | 6Goa                          | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 7Gujarat                      | 7Gujarat                      | 6      | 8      | 20     | 15     | 12     |
| 8Haryana                      | 8Haryana                      | 18     | 21     | 20     | 33     | 33     |
| 9Himachal Pradesh             | 9Himachal Pradesh             | 5      | 9      | 4      | 5      | 5      |
| 10Jharkhand                   | 10Jharkhand                   | 1      | 7      | 3      | 3      | 4      |
| 11Karnataka                   | 11Karnataka                   | 65     | 73     | 111    | 184    | 273    |
| 12Kerala                      | 12Kerala                      | 15     | 18     | 7      | 8      | 12     |
| 13Madhya Pradesh              | 13Madhya Pradesh              | 5      | 3      | 4      | 5      | 4      |
| 14Maharashtra                 | 14Maharashtra                 | 20     | 13     | 20     | 50     | 82     |
| 15Manipur                     | 15Manipur                     | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 2      |
| 16Meghalaya                   | 16Meghalaya                   | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 17Mizoram                     | 17Mizoram                     | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 18Nagaland                    | 18Nagaland                    | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 19Odisha                      | 19Odisha                      | 17     | 22     | 22     | 24     | 64     |
| 20Punjab                      | 20Punjab                      | 8      | 6      | 6      | 13     | 8      |
| 21Rajasthan                   | 21Rajasthan                   | 6      | 11     | 19     | 3      | 11     |
| 22Sikkim                      | 22Sikkim                      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 23Tamil Nadu                  | 23Tamil Nadu                  | 55     | 67     | 46     | 77     | 169    |
| 24Telangana                   | 24Telangana                   | 25     | 24     | 35     | 60     | 57     |
| 25Tripura                     | 25Tripura                     | 1      | 1      | 0      | 4      | 1      |
| 26Uttar Pradesh               | 26Uttar Pradesh               | 4      | 4      | 4      | 12     | 6      |
| 27Uttarakhand                 | 27Uttarakhand                 | 1      | 2      | 2      | 9      | 12     |
| 28West Bengal                 | 28West Bengal                 | 49     | 70     | 68     | 98     | 105    |
| TOTAL STATE(S)                | TOTAL STATE(S)                | 392    | 498    | 518    | 779    | 1045   |
| 29A&N Islands                 | 29A&N Islands                 | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 30Chandigarh                  | 30Chandigarh                  | 2      | 2      | 1      | 1      | 0      |
| 31D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu+ | 31D&N Haveli and Daman & Diu+ | 0      | 0      | 1      | 0      | 0      |
| 32Delhi                       | 32Delhi                       | 1      | 1      | 2      | 4      | 2      |
| 33Jammu & Kashmir*            | 33Jammu & Kashmir*            | 0      | 0      | 1      | 1      | 2      |
| 34Ladakh                      | 34Ladakh                      |        |        |        | 0      | 0      |
| 35Lakshadweep                 | 35Lakshadweep                 | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      |
| 36Puducherry                  | 36Puducherry                  | 0      | 0      | 0      | 0      | 1      |
| TOTAL UT(S)                   | TOTAL UT(S)                   | 3      | 3      | 5      | 6      | 5      |
| TOTAL (ALL INDIA)             |                               | 395    | 501    | 523    | 785    | 1050   |

Source: Crime in India