'Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan among 10 states with maximum child marriage cases'

Bidhan Chandra Singh, Executive Director of Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, was speaking at the national level consultation on child marriage-free India in New Delhi where chairpersons and representatives of State Centres for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) shared their opinions on child rights, reports ETV Bharat's Gautam Debroy.

New Delhi:Amid the Assam government's crackdown against child marriages causing a nationwide hue and cry, the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation on Monday claimed that Assam is among the top states registering most child marriage cases. According to Bidhan Chandra Singh, Executive Director of Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation, Assam, along with Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and six other states, across the country has registered maximum incidents of child marriage cases.

Singh was speaking at the national level consultation on child marriage-free India in New Delhi where chairpersons and representatives of State Centres for Protection of Child Rights (SCPCRs) shared their opinions on child rights. "States like West Bengal, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, and Odisha where maximum incidents of child marriages take place," Singh told ETV Bharat. Over the Assam government's crackdown on child marriages, Singh said that the action taken by the Assam police is “really praiseworthy”. "We hope that States across the country should take this type of strong action to stop child marriages," said Singh.

"With a proper assessment of our capabilities and strengths, we have managed to identify the 10,000 villages and towns in 200 districts where this crime occurs”. Satyarthi said that currently, 23 percent of girls are married off before they turn 18 years old in the country. "We have resolved to bring this number down to 10 percent by 2025."

In addition to being a social evil and criminal offence, we consider child marriages to be a cruel attack on human freedom, dignity, and social morality," said Satyarthi. According to the national family health survey-V (NFHS-5) report of 2019-21, the country has 23.3 per cent of women in the age group of 20-24 years, get married before reaching the age of 18 years. On October 16, 2022, the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation launched the world's largest-ever grassroots-level campaign against child marriages. The campaign was led by more than 76,377 grass root women leaders across 7,588 villages representing 26 States of the country.