Legal action through court injunctions – a provision that existed in law but was rarely invoked earlier – is being hailed as a major step towards stopping child marriages in the tribal-dominated region of Udaipur district in Rajasthan.
It was used here for the first time in April when Khairwara Judicial Magistrate Yatindra Chaudhary issued an injunction under Section 13(1) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, on an application filed by Gayatri Seva Sansthan. It declared that a child marriage in the town solemnised in contravention of the order would be void ab initio (since the beginning) and violators would draw a jail term of up to two years and fine up to ₹1 lakh.
The district administration, the District Legal Services Authority, Gayatri Seva Sansthan and several public-spirited citizens have joined hands for “practical application” of Section 13(1), which has been seldom used since the enactment of the path-breaking legislation. With the injunction declaring the child marriage null and void, the bride and bridegroom are not required to wait till they become adults to take legal action to get their marriage dissolved. Section 13(3) of the Act also empowers the court of the Judicial Magistrate to take suo motu cognisance of a child marriage on the basis of any reliable report or information.
While the administration’s ‘Child marriage-free Udaipur’ campaign will continue in the district till June 30, common people have started coming forward to inform nodal officers about the wedding ceremonies for children being planned and held. The administration has also announced a cash prize of ₹2,100 for giving information at the helpline numbers.
The campaign’s convener and former member of the Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, Shailendra Pandya, told The Hindu that task forces appointed at the district, panchayat samiti and village levels were constantly monitoring rural families to ensure that no child was forced into wedlock.
Integrated Child Protection Scheme Deputy Director Meena Sharma said about half-a-dozen child marriages had been stopped since the campaign was launched and the process was under way for getting the injunction orders for them. “Our focus is on first stopping these weddings by an administrative action and then obtaining injunction from the court to ensure that there is no legal validity of child marriages,” she said.
According to the National Family Health Survey-5 (NFHS-5), released in May 2022, 24.5% of women aged 20 to 24 years in Rajasthan reported that they were married before 18 years of age. The child marriage figures have reduced considerably from 35.4% reported in NFHS-4, conducted during 2015-16.
The reasons for early marriages solemnised in the tribal-dominated Mewar region, with Udaipur as its headquarters, include lack of education, gender gap in literacy, poverty in the rural households, financial insecurity and the prevailing social traditions and practices, in which there is a concern for the safety of girls.
