3 girls are forced into child marriage per minute in India: Study | India News – Times of India

NEW DELHI:

We are 24 years into the 21st century, but every minute, three girl children are forced into marriage in India. Not that you will know this from crime data, which captures a fraction of child marriages in the country. Take 2022, for example. Only three cases were registered per day nationwide. It gets grimmer: in most cases, the groom was over 21.
These shocking numbers are courtesy a new study by ‘India Child Protection’ research team, part of the ‘Child Marriage Free India’ network of civil society organisations.The report analysed data from Census 2011, National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21).
Per the report, NCRB data for 2018-2022 records 3,863 child marriages. But, as the study points out, extrapolating from Census estimates, 16 lakh child marriages take place every year.

With 81% drop in 3 years, Assam a case study in curbing child marriage: Study
That translates into over 4,000 child marriages every day. NFHS-5 estimates show that 23.3% of women in the 20-24 age bracket were married before they were 18.
Assam is cited as a case study in curbing child marriage. The report says, between 2021-22 and 2023-24, there was an 81% drop in child marriages across 1,132 villages in 20 districts of the state. In absolute numbers, the decline is from 3,225 cases in 2021-22 to 627 in 2023-24. Last year, there were over 3,000 arrests for this crime.
In a survey carried out in these villages, 98% of respondents believed that the state’s strict law enforcement is a major reason child marriages are declining in number.
The picture is different everywhere else. The report says prolonged trials in courts and poor conviction rates encourage those intent on marrying off girl children. “In 2022, out of the total 3,563 child marriage cases listed for trial in courts under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, a mere 181 cases were successfully concluded in terms of trial completion,” the report said. Case pendency rate is 92%. Conviction rate is 11%.
Analysing data of child marriages that were prevented by various NGOs, the report says, a “majority of cases of child marriages are instances of exploiting the vulnerability of the girl child, with older men taking advantage of their position of authority and the vulnerability of these girls”.