From Silence to Action: How a Nationwide Movement Is Turning the Tide Against Child Marriage

When 14-year-old Sandhya (name changed) was being forced into marriage by her alcoholic father and debt-ridden elder brother in a small village in Uttar Pradesh’s Ayodhya district, the outcome seemed inevitable. A child would have been married off, stripped of choice, education, and safety, and pushed into a life of sanctioned abuse under the garb of tradition.

This is how the story would have ended in 2010. Or in 2015. Or even in 2018. But 2025 tells a different story.

Sandhya’s mother, separated from her husband years ago, learnt of what was being planned. She heard how her daughter was being coerced into marriage, just as she herself had been decades earlier. This time, silence was not an option. She immediately contacted an NGO working on child protection in the district and raised an alarm.

What followed was swift and coordinated action. The NGO, accompanied by police officials, Childline representatives, and the Child Marriage Prohibition Officer, reached Sandhya’s home. The father and brother were clearly informed that forcing a child into marriage before the age of eighteen is a punishable offence. Arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment were not abstract possibilities. They were real consequences.

The warning carried weight. Families in neighbouring villages had already faced jail time for arranging child marriages. The message had begun to travel.

Sandhya did not get married. She stayed in school.

So did Aarti in Bihar and Triveni in Tamil Nadu. Aparajita and Moumita in West Bengal, too, now have lives shaped by education, safety, and the possibility of a future of their own.

Each of these children carries the story of a tradition that had, for centuries, dangerously settled into acceptance. And each of them also carries the story of change. A change driven by a growing mass movement, led by the partnership and strength of civil society organisations, powered by government commitment, and reinforced by administrative, police, and judicial support. Together, they are redefining how India confronts and challenges child marriage.

When Someone Finally Answered the Call

Sandhya, Aarti, Triveni, Aparajita, and Moumita come from different states, speak different languages, and live in vastly different social realities. Yet each of them was reached at the most fragile moment of their childhood. Sometimes it was a phone call. Sometimes an awareness meeting in a school or a village. Sometimes a Childline worker knocking on the door. Sometimes an anonymous voice refusing to look away.

Follow these moments back and a pattern begins to emerge. These rescues were not accidents. They were the result of a quiet, persistent network working behind the scenes. A network of organisations bound together under Just Rights for Children.

Spread across more than 451 districts with the highest prevalence of child marriage, over 250 NGO partners form this network, united by a single goal: to end child marriage in India before 2030. Over time, this collective has embedded itself into everyday life. Into classrooms and panchayat meetings. Into district offices and courtrooms. It is here that conversations are changing, warnings are being issued early, and the law is beginning to arrive before the wedding date does.

In 2023, drawing strength from the lived experiences of thousands of women survivors of child marriage, these organisations decided to work together in a more deliberate and unified way. The task appeared daunting. The destination was clear, a child marriage free India. The path, however, seemed steep, uncertain, and long.

At this critical point came the book When Children Have Children: Tipping Point to End Child Marriage, written by the network’s founder, Bhuwan Ribhu. The book offered clarity. A sharp, plausible strategy that inspired collective belief. It introduced the PICKET framework and argued for building an ecosystem where child marriage cannot survive. One that brings together communities, institutions, and the state.

The framework placed education and awareness at the centre of behaviour change, but it was unequivocal on one point: without prosecution, change would not hold. When one family is punished for forcing a child into marriage, the message travels far beyond that household. It travels across villages and districts, reaching hundreds of families who begin to understand that tradition can no longer shield crime.

This strategy became the guiding light for over 250 NGO partners. Adapted across languages, cultures, and geographies, it began to work.

Within three years, the impact was visible. Between April 1, 2023 and September 2025, the Just Rights for Children network, working closely with district administrations, Child Marriage Prohibition Officers, panchayats, teachers, and state governments, stopped 3,97,849 child marriages. In the last year alone, over one lakh child marriages were prevented. More than seven lakh girls returned to school, and over nineteen lakh vulnerable and economically weaker families were linked to government welfare schemes.

When the Law Spoke Clearly

When the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark judgment in 2024 and issued comprehensive guidelines to end child marriage, it became a national call to action. The guidelines echoed the principles outlined in the PICKET strategy, strengthening the resolve of NGOs working on the ground, often in hostile environments, and at personal risk, to stop a crime against children.

In November 2024, the Government of India took the next decisive step. The nationwide ‘Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat’ campaign was launched, and over five crore people pledged to end child marriage, marking an unprecedented show of public commitment and solidarity.

What Comes Next

In 2025, to mark India’s accelerating progress towards eliminating child marriage by 2030 and to chart the road ahead, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Annapurna Devi announced a 100-day intensive national campaign. Bhuwan Ribhu, architect of Just Rights for Children and the PICKET framework, stood alongside government leadership, pledging full support.

There was one more commitment. The network, working in tandem with all stakeholders and agencies, will make one lakh villages child marriage free. These are villages with the highest prevalence of the practice, often the hardest to reach and the most resistant to change.

But Just Rights for Children began this journey precisely because it was difficult. And it has remained true to that choice. And to the dream of a child marriage free India.