New Delhi: It will take another 19 years to do away with the backlog of child marriage cases with our current resources, a report has revealed. The report, ‘Towards Justice: Ending Child Marriage’, released by the NCPCR on Wednesday also showed a model that has worked — A reduction of 80 per cent in cases in 20 districts in Assam.
The report has recommended a rehabilitation framework for children who annul child marriages, setting up of fast track courts, and treating the victims of child marriages at par with survivors of child sexual abuse.
The report drafted by India Child Protection, and released by NCPCR chief Priyank Kanungo and Child Marriage Free India founder and child rights activist Bhuwan Ribhu showed that while three girls get married in India every minute, only three cases were registered every day in 2022.
“As per the 2011 census data, a staggering 4,442 girls (below 18 years) were getting married everyday. This translates into 185 girl children getting married every hour and three of them getting married every minute,” the report said.
Data from NCRB shows that out of the 63,513 children rescued from kidnapping or abduction in 2022, as many as 15,748 (25%) had been taken away for the purpose of either ‘marriage’ or ‘illicit intercourse’. “Of this, 15,142 children recovered in 2022 were kidnapped solely for the purpose of marriage. In 2022, 13,981 cases were reported for the offence of kidnapping and abduction of a minor girl to compel her marriage, compared to 11,236 in 2020. This highlights a 24% increase in the number of minor girls being kidnapped or abducted for the purpose of marriage during 2020-22,” the report said.