Marriages stopped, 177 back to their childhood

In the past 19 months, the district childline-1098 received 177 complaints of child marriages being conducted. Withthehelp of various agencies, including the

social welfare department

, most of the marriages were stopped.

Only in a few cases have FIRs been registered against violators, while in some cases the parentshave discreetly conducted the marriages despite intervention. Though awareness about the childline has gone up, the number of child marriages has not come down in the district, said social welfare department officials.

As per records, 177 complaints reached the helpline between April2016 and October 2017. With August having more Muhurtam (auspicious) days, the month recorded 16 child marriage attempts in 2016 and 13 in 2017.

“The complaintswere mostly from peer-groups, estranged lovers (of ‘brides’), neighbours and teachers/professors. Received complaints were conveyed to the social welfare department, which, along with revenue and police departments, would take steps to stop the child marriages. If needed, the authorities would reach the spot within a few hours,” said N

Aruchamy

, Tirupur Childline Centre Coordinator.

District Social Welfare Officer I Poongothai, who is also

Child Marriage Prohibition Officer

, told TOI that “several such marriageswere attempted in rural areas, particularly Kangeyam, Vellakoil, Udumalpet and Kudimangalam. When asked, many parents admitted that they took such decisions because their teenage children fell in love with someone from other castes/communities or creed. Some others fixed the marriages when ‘well to-do’ alliances came their way.”

“Some communitiesstillfollow the tradition of marrying children at a young age. With the district hosting a huge migrant population (from other parts of Tamil Nadu too), such illegal marriage attempts were seen equally among local people and the migrant population. There is a notion that child marriages are higher in the southern districts, but it is not true,” said Aruchamy.

“In most of the 177 complaints, the brides/bridegrooms were below the legal marriage age -18 for woman and 21 for man. In some cases the brides and bridegrooms were found tohave attainedthe legal age. In one case, we had to contact a civic body in Telangana to ascertain the age of a bride and after this we allowed the marriage,” said Poongothai.

“Though all illegal marriage attemptswere stopped, in 7 cases the parents managed to conduct the marriages after changing their residence or conducting the marriages in some other district. We have challenges in tracking the victims if they are from other districts,” said M Dinesh Babu, childline city coordinator.

“After the marriages are stopped, the social welfare department and Childline would track them continuously. We ensure that the victims continue their education if they are dropouts. Many a time, we had to intervene to readmit the children to educational institutions/schools,” Poongothai said.