With no let up in the instances of child marriages, the authorities have sought to turn the heat on owners of choultries and kalyana mantaps to mandatorily collect age proof documents of the bride and the groom before allowing marriages in their premises.
At a recent meeting that was held to review the functioning of the Department of Women and Child Development here, Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha had directed authorities to serve notices to all owners of choultries and kalyana mantaps across the district to allow their premises to be used for marriages only after ascertaining the age of the bride and the groom through their age proof documents.
‘Not be allowed’
Marriages should not be allowed if the boy is less than 21 years and the girl less than 18 years of age.
“We consider the birth certificate or the SSLC marks card as age-proof documents. If don’t have them, they need to undergo a medical test under the supervision of the district surgeon and report signed by the District Health Officer,” Ms. K. Radha, Deputy Director, Women and Child Welfare Department, Mysuru, told The Hindu .
The authorities have successfully managed to prevent more than 150 child marriages in different places in Mysuru district last year (2015-16).
“Since March this year, we have prevented around 50 child marriages,” Ms. Radha added.
However, she also said the child marriage prevention officers in various parts of the district, often face a hostile reception, when they visit choultries or kalyana mantaps after being alerted about child marriages.
“In some cases, they remove the boards of the bride and groom outside the venue and immediately bring a cake from the nearest bakery and cut the cake to hoodwink the raiding party. In a few cases, they try to remove all traces of marriage and claim it is a community festival,” she said.
Taking a serious view of the issue of child marriages, the district administration has now also decided to revoke the licences of choultries and kalyana mantaps if they permit child marriages.
With a few marriages being shifted to temples, Ms. Radha said the authorities are planning to issue notices to the temples under Department of Religious Endowments also.
Not only parents, even the priests and choultry owners can be booked under various provisions of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act as well as Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, she said cautioning that the offenders face a jail term of two years.
Administration has decided to revoke licences of wedding halls if they permit child marriages
