In a bid to evolve a plan of action on preventing child marriages in Tamil Nadu, the Indian Council for Child Welfare, in collaboration with UNICEF Chennai and the Department of Social Welfare, has come out with an evidence-based report identifying the determinants of the age-old practice in the State.
A study has shown that nearly 75 % of 1,156 child marriages, which were stopped by the government in 2017, were arranged by parents. In the arranged marriages, 52 % of the parents had not asked the consent of the child. A total of 1,636 child marriages had been stopped, of which data from 1,156 marriages had been analysed.
Varying determinants
“Any plan of action that we take towards preventing child marriages should be based on data we have available, which is why we sought to look at the determinants. There is a whole range of emotional factors involved as well and a comprehensive plan of action needs to take everything into consideration,” explained Girija Kumarababu, honorary general secretary, ICCW-TN.
The determinants for arranged child marriages indicated that nearly 33 % of the cases, the marriage was fixed owing to economic problems of the child’s family. This was followed by reasons such as the girl child would have a love affair, safety issues and sickness of family members.
V. Amudhavalli, Commissioner, Social Welfare department, pointed out that the factors tend to vary across districts in the State. “At the same time, wherever the government mechanisms such as ChildLine have been effectively publicised, more number of cases get reported in those districts. We need all the stakeholders, including the department as well as NGOs, to come together and work towards its prevention,” she said.
While nearly 46 % of the child marriages were found to have been stopped after engagement, 29 % on the day of the marriage.
Helpline calls
Several cases reported in Tamil Nadu, especially through calls on the ChildLine 1098, were by friends of the girl who was about to get married.
While delayed reporting is a major challenge, the report indicated that field workers did not have vehicles to travel far and often faced threats from village leaders or other people.
“Education plays an important part in addressing the gaps and since there are schools in remote areas, all the children should be sensitised about 1098 and reporting any cases that they hear of. There is also a need for guidelines about what to do if the actual ceremony has been completed and our focus should be child-centric,” said Andal Damodaran, President of ICCW-TN.
