As many as 109 child marriages were reported in Shivamogga district in the last one year. The district administration could stop 89 of them, based on prior information. This came up for discussion in a meeting chaired by Shyamala S. Kundar, member of National Women Commission, in Shivamogga on Friday.
While reviewing the programmes related to women, Ms. Kundar pointed out that there was a need for strict measures to stop child marriages. “The officers have to respond to complaints of child marriages in a short span of time and stop them. Besides that, programmes to spread awareness among the public on the issue was necessary”, she said.
Regarding the domestic violence cases, the commission member suggested the officers give preference to resolving the issues through mutual talks, rather than filing cases. Sakhi centre, meant for counselling women facing problems, should be strengthened so that it could perform effectively. The centre should have an independent building, she said.
All government and private offices should have a system to receive complaints of harassment at the workplace. Every establishment should have a committee as per the guidelines, she said.
Deputy Commissioner K.B. Shivakumar, SP K.M. Shantharaju, Zilla Panchayat CEO M.L. Vaisali and others were present.
