MP Shocker! 15-Year-Old Delivers Baby At Jabalpur; Case Registered Against Parents, Hubby & In-Laws For Child Marriage

Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): A 15-year-old girl, who was married at the age of 13, has given birth to a baby in Madhya Pradesh’s Jabalpur, as reported on Thursday. 

According to police, the matter pertains to the Katangi area of Jabalpur district. The minor’s parents, grandmother and uncle had arranged her marriage with a youth from Katangi in July 2023. 

The matter came to light when the girl delivered the child at a medical college hospital.

As the hospital staff gauged that the mother was actually a minor, they immediately informed police. 

Following the hospital’s report, Katangi police registered a case against the girl’s parents, husband, grandmother, mother-in-law, and another person under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act and the POCSO Act.

At present, the police have taken the matter into cognizance and begun further investigation into the case.

Child marriage - A punishable offence 

According to Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, “Child marriage a punishable offense and sets the minimum age for marriage at 21 for males and 18 for females. It also provides for the annulment of child marriages.”

Despite the laws, the nation is still struggling to completely eradicate the practice from certain sections of society. 

What surfaces as a bigger problem is a child giving birth to a child, which further risks the natural growth and development of both, the mother and newborn. 

However, the nation has seen a decline in the long-standing issue and is working towards its abolition from society.