Fake medical certificates behind child marriages

BHOPAL: Fake medical certificates to validate the age of minor girls and boys so they become ‘major’ has become the norm of the day in Madhya Pradesh. Shivpuri district, which has earned infamy for child marriages, has become a den for such activities where private doctors are providing fake medical certificates for child marriages. In Shivpuri 63.4% of women got married before attaining the age of 18 years.
There are also enticing offers.“If two girls of the same family get married together, Rs 11,001 will be given,” reads a pamphlet of a community wedding function where large number of child marriages took place on Akshay Tritiya.
According to the Juvenile Justice Act of 2015, to verify the age of a particular person, s/he needs to furnish either a board examination certificate or birth certificate. If the person doesn’t have any of the two, s/he needs to furnish a medical certificate from a medical board comprising four people of the local district hospital for age proof. However, such rules are normally flouted in cases of child marriages with the help of private doctors.
When TOI contacted Dr Bhagwat Bansal who runs an X-ray and ultra sound centre in Shivpuri , he said, “People approach us saying that they want medical certificate to validate age for the purpose of marriage. We charge them the cost of X-ray which comes to Rs 2,200. I am providing such certificates for past 3-4 years and give approximately 100 age-proofing medical certificates for marriages per year. Generally, parents of the child or the community heads approach us for the same.”
When told that it is illegal to provide such certificates and he is not authorized to do so, he had a ready answer: “I am a doctor and eligible to give such certificates. In fact, some years back, an SDM had told us to do it as district hospital was unable to carry out the exercise. I don’t remember the SDM’s name but he said so.”
Another hospital which provides such fake certificates in Shivpuri is Vidya Devi Hospital run by one Dr RK Gupta. However, despite repeated attempts by TOI to contact him, he did not respond.
Pradeep Singh, a child rights activist working in Shivpuri, said, “Last year, district hospital issued 2,500 fake age validity certificates for marriage purpose. After we requested them not to issue such certificates, they complied. However, now private doctors have come into play.”
He said that these medical certificates are the last option for age proof. People have birth certificates and board marksheets but are running after these certificates to show that their sons and daughters are eligible for marriage.
“Private doctors charge anywhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 or some times more for the certificates. Community leaders of various castes promote these mass marriage functions with offers as they get financial gains if numbers are high. These events promote child marriages.”
A child rights activist based in Bhopal who works for an international child welfare agency, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said, “In Madhya Pradesh, 30% girls below the age of 18 and 40% boys below the age of 21 get married. Most child marriages take place at these mass marriage functions where organizers lure people with attractive gifts or financial gains. But they don’t understand that these marriages destroy the life of a child.”
“Poor financial status, lack of vocational and educational opportunities, lack of concern for safety of the girl child once she attains puberty and patriarchal mindset are the reasons behind child marriage, which needs to be addressed. Absence of political will is also a prime cause for such events taking place,” added the activist.