With purohits announcing that there are no muhurtams for marriages till the end of this year because of the Krishna Pushkarams, many parents are performing marriages of minors, throwing laws and acts to the wind.
Officials of the Revenue, Police and Women Development and Child Welfare (WD&CW) are busy checking marriage venues, counselling the parents of the brides and warning them not to perform child marriages.
According to the officials, nearly 45 child marriages had been stopped in just two-and-a-half months, of which 20 were prevented in just two days. Many more such marriages might have gone unnoticed, the officials fear.
Speaking to The Hindu on Thursday, WD&CW Krishna District Project Director (PD) K. Krishna Kumari said the Child Development Project Officers (CDPOs), staff of Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) along with Police, Revenue and Anganwadi workers had stopped about 45 child marriages in the last few days.
“We have been receiving phone calls on child marriages from different villages. On April 20 and 21, the CDPOs and other staff prevented nearly 20 marriages, which shows the severity of the problem,” the PD said.
Marriages were prevented in Ranigarithota, Krishnalanka, Ajitsingh Nagar and Ramalingeswara Peta, Rajarajeswaripeta in Vijayawada and also in Nandiwada, Mylavaram, Gudivada, Mandavalli, Gannavaram, Appapuram, Kothapalli, Manikonda, Bibigudem, Kakulapadu and other villages in the district, Ms. Krishna Kumari said.
“We stopped several child marriages on April 20 and 21. “We faced stiff resistance from parents and relatives. We stopped the marriages after duly counselling them about the consequences of violating Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006,” said Gannavaram CDPO V. Swaroopa Rani.
“In almost all the cases, brides were aged between 12 and 16 years, and are 8, 9, 10 class dropouts. We ‘bound-over’ the girls and shifted them to different homes. Under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, both the parents along with the bridegroom and the elders and mediators who facilitate the marriages are liable to imprisonment,” the PD warned.
Gannavaram MLA Vallabhaneni Vamsi Mohan prevented the wedlock of a minor at Bibigudem village. When parents of the bride said they were marrying off their daughter due to poverty, the MLA gave them Rs. 5,000 and asked them to stop the marriage, the officials said.
“The marriages are Krishna Pushkarams effect. With some priests saying that there are no murhurtams after Pushkarams and marriages should not be performed up to one year after the event, parents are marrying off their young children. In one case, the bride was eleven and the boy was fifteen. The girl was a fifth class dropout. Even our staff were shocked on seeing the little girl dressed in silk for the marriage,” the PD said.
