By M L Satyan

Bengaluru: Sudha was a healthy student in southern India. The 16-year-old is no more. She was found hanging in her house in a rural village of Tamil Nadu in May, 2020. She died shortly afterwards at a nearby hospital. Sudha committed suicide, after being forced to marry a relative against her consent.

Sudha’s death has drawn society’s attention to Child Marriage, a social evil that silently thrives in various parts of India.

In Karnataka, child marriage increased 15 percent during the Covid-19 period. The Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) says the state had reported188 child marriages between April and December 2020.

Speaking to Indianexpress.com, KSCPCR Chairman Sebastian Anthony said, “When the administration was busy handling Covid-19 lockdown across the state, parents thought this was the best time to get their girl children married. There could be marriages that went unnoticed by the administration due to the lockdown.

He further said, “Schools and colleges also remained closed for an extended period, making it impossible to monitor the attendance of girls. The parents used all these changes to marry their under-aged girl children during the lockdown.” Most cases of child marriages were reported from Bellary, Mysuru, Bagalkot, Dharwad, Belagavi, and from the rural parts of the state, as per the data by the KSCPCR.

This was confirmed by Dinakaran newspaper on January 3 with this news: the highest number of child marriages has taken place in these districts – 26 in Hasan; 25 in Mandya; 24 in Mysuru and 19 in Belagavi. NGOs and Social Activists doubt these numbers. They feel that with the unreported cases, the number could be higher. If this is the situation in Karnataka, we can imagine what is happening in many northern states.

Alarming Statistics – Global

In its new report Global Girlhood 2020: COVID-19 and progress in peril, Save the Children analysed the impact of Covid-19 on gender equality, revealing its devastating effects. The report shows that:

• 78.6 million child marriages have been prevented over the last 25 years but even before the coronavirus, progress to end the practice had slowed to a halt.
• Although data is limited, girls affected by humanitarian crises – like wars, floods, droughts, earthquakes, and disease outbreaks – face the greatest risks of child marriage.
• Gender-based violence was a pandemic long before Covid-19, with an estimated one in 10 girls globally having experienced rape or sexual violence from a current or former boyfriend or husband. The coronavirus has now led to increased reports of gender-based violence around the world.
• An estimated 500,000 more girls are at risk of being forced into child marriage and as many as one million more are expected to become pregnant in 2021 as a result of the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
• Up to 2.5 million additional girls are expected to marry over the next five years. Together with the 58.4 million child marriages taking place on average every five years, this amounts to a staggering 61 million child marriages by 2025.
• The UN expects an additional two million cases of female genital mutilation (FGM) to take place over the next 10 years as a result of the pandemic, mostly affecting girls under 14 years.
• The UN Population Fund estimates that the result will be 13 million additional cases of child marriage over the next 10 years.

Devastating effects

Many of the complex factors that drive child marriage in stable environments are exacerbated in emergency settings, as family and community structures break down during crisis and displacement. A pandemic of this nature also presents unique challenges that can increase child marriage both in the acute and recovery phases. Challenges include the loss of household income, higher risk of domestic violence and lack of access to schooling. Plan International research shows that, in crisis settings, girls live in fear of violence and are not only concerned about the constant presence of armed men, but also about gender-based violence (GBV) within families.

The causes of child marriage are complex and vary across communities. The main driving factors include gender inequality, antiquated cultural norms, and poverty. In many parts of the world, girls are not seen as potential wage earners, but rather as a financial burden, which marriage transfers to the husband’s family. Giving a daughter away in marriage leaves the family with one less mouth to feed, one less child to educate and one less body to clothe. The freed-up financial resources can then be invested in the education of sons, which is seen as more worthwhile.

Violation of rights
The practice of marrying children is appalling and a grave violation of human rights, not least because it often amounts to giving men a licence to rape, to put it bluntly. Sex with a child who is not yet competent to consent to sexual acts is rape – plain and simple – and calling the child a “wife” or “husband” does not change that. Child marriage undermines the aspirations of children, mostly girls, who are just at the beginning of their lives and robs them of the chance to realise their potential.

Becoming a wife typically marks the end of a girl’s education, cementing her dependence on men, and increasing exposure to the risks of domestic violence, early pregnancy and contracting HIV. The CEO of Save the Children International said, “These marriages violate girls’ rights and leave them at increased risk of depression, lifelong violence, disabilities, and even death – including from childbirth, given their bodies simply are not ready to bear children.”

Message
Sunita, 16-year-old, from Bihar, was forced to marry and leave school at the age of 12. She now advocates against child marriage in her village, participating in community events to raise awareness of girls’ rights. She said: “I was told that some relatives were visiting my family. That’s when I found out my marriage had been arranged. I felt really terrible because I was still very young and was attending school with my friends. All my dreams were shattered in that moment. My message to all girls of my age would be to delay your marriage and do whatever it takes to fulfil your dreams.”

“Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao” has become a “forgotten scheme” of the federal government. It is now in our hands. Shall we spread Sunita’s message and ensure the protection of girl children from the evil of child marriage?