Bhopal(Madhya Pradesh): In all 15 phone calls pertaining to child marriage were received on Dial 100 across the state this Akshaya Tritiya which was celebrated on Saturday. After receiving a tip off, the teams of police and officials of the women and child development department had rushed to the spots to prevent the underage girls becoming the victim of early marriage, said officials on Sunday.
Anuppur reported four calls on dial 100 pertaining to child marriage followed by Raisen where three calls regarding marriage of underage girls being solominised were received by Dial 100 service on Saturday. Ujjain, Dindori, Mandsaur, Dhar, Mandla, Ratlam, Tikamgarh and Burhanpur reported one call each on the day.
As the wedding ceremonies are organised on a large scale, many people use this occasion to tie the nuptial knot of their minor children, especially girls. The legal age of marriage for girls is 18 years and boys 21 years in the country, however, on Akshaya Tritiya, which is considered very auspicious, people try to dodge the authorities and arrange marriage of their minor wards.
SP, Dial-100, Beena Singh told Free Press that in the last five years, the emergency service has received 6,144 calls about child marriages. Acting on the calls, the authorities rush the FRV to spot, besides information about the same is also shared with the local WCD officials. “Their team also reaches the spot and verifies the age and other related documents of the groom and the bride. Only after ascertaining that the two are of legal marriageable age, the wedding ceremony is allowed to progress or else all such weddings are prevented,” she said.
The official informed that there was a drop in number of calls pertaining to child marriages from 2018 to 2021, however, 2022 did see an increase in the calls, but did not touch the mark of 2018.
The SP attributed decline in the number of calls to the alacrity of the police and officials in preventing such illegal marriages. There is awareness among people regarding the action being taken in case of child marriages and the humiliation the family and also the village has to face in case of such incident and so there is decline in the number of child marriage and subsequently the calls pertaining to child marriages is also seeing a drop, said the officer. Nowadays a friend of girl, villagers anyone calls up Dial 100 informing about the child marriage, she said the officer. Further stating that Dial 100 was also receiving fake and prank calls, the officer said that the team take note of all the calls and share the information with the team to prevent any child marriage.
400 calls received from Sagar district since 2018
Sagar district is on the top of the list receiving calls in the state. The district received as many as 400 calls from January 2018 to April 22, 2023.
It is followed by Ujjain where 265 calls pertaining to child marriage were made on dial 100. Shahdol reported 239 calls, Singrauli 210, Damoh 210, and Indore urban and rural 202 calls .
Alirajpur district is at the bottom where only four calls were reported in the over more than the last 5 years. Followed by Niwari-18, Sheopur-24, Burhanpur-26 and Barwani-25 during this period.
Year calls
2018- 1362
2019- 1247
2020- 978
2021- 1247
2022- 1037
2023 - 273 ( till April 22)
On Akshaya Tritiya it is believed the couple whose marriage muhurat is not able to come out throughout the year can get married on Akshaya Tritiya without looking at the Panchang and muhurat. It is believed that those who get married on this day do not face any kind of trouble. Married life ahead is always full of happiness.
