A case has been filed against five people for their alleged involvement in facilitating the marriage of an underage girl in Pune's Dehu Road, an official informed.
Salem Usman Inamdar (25), his parents, minor girl's mother, and Maulana Mukhtar Ghaffar Shaikh (46). The marriage occurred on October 30 in Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Dehu Road.
The complaint has been registered at the Dehu Road Police Station, with charges including arranging the marriage of a minor girl. Maulana Mukhtar Ghaffar Shaikh is specifically accused of conducting the marriage ceremony despite being aware of the girl's underage status.
The Dehu Road Police have launched an investigation into the case.
National Crime Records Bureau data on child marriages
Meanwhile, the number of child marriages has increased every year from 2017 to 2021, with the highest recorded at 1050 in 2021, compared to 395 in 2017, 501 in 2018, 523 in 2019, and 785 in 2020, as per the statistics maintained by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
Minister for Women Smriti Irani disclosed this information in the Lok Sabha. However, she asserted that this doesn't necessarily reflect an increase in the number of child marriages but may be due to increased awareness among citizens to report such incidents due to government initiatives and better law enforcement.
In 2021, Karnataka topped with 273 child marriages, followed by 169 in Tamil Nadu and 155 in Assam. Maharashtra recorded 82 child marriages in 2021, compared to 20 in 2019 and 50 in 2020. Rajasthan, which once had a large number of child marriages, reported 6 in 2017, 11 in 2018, 19 in 2019, 3 in 2020, and 11 in 2021.
