Vanitha Torvi, member of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KCPCR), has said that a campaign against child marriage would be launched here on Saturday.
Addressing presspersons here, Ms. Torvi said that nearly 500 students would take out a jatha from the Board High School at 9 a.m. The jatha would pass through the main streets and culminate at the Government College here, where a function would be held at 10 a.m.
The objective was to create awareness about the issue both among the students and the people, she said.
More care should be taken by the officers of government departments when mass marriages were held. The ages of both the brides and bridegrooms should be checked thoroughly to prevent any child marriage. The incidence of child marriage in Udupi district was far lesser when compared to other districts.
There were 225 out-of-school children in Udupi district.
Of them, the department had traced 60 children and got them back to the schools. Since the other children might have left with their parents (migrant workers), efforts were being made to trace them in other districts. Udupi had the least number of out-of-school children in the State, Ms. Torvi said.
Gracy Gonsalves, Joint Director of Women and Child Welfare, said that there had been one instance of child marriage in Udupi district in May 2016.
A girl aged 17 was married to a 26-year-old person at a village near Kollur. When the matter came to the notice of the Department of Women and Child Welfare, the case was referred to the Child Welfare Committee and the matter was now in court.
Another instance of child marriage was prevented at Kota.
A 17-year-old girl was engaged to get married to a 24-year-old man at a village near Kundapur in December 2016. Since the Department of Women and Child Welfare got information about it before the marriage, it was stopped, she said.
Latha, member-secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, H. Diwakar Shetty, Deputy Director of Public Instruction, and Ramesh, Social Welfare Officer, were present.
