Rajasthan Holds Consultation to Chalk Out Strategy to End Child Marriage by 2030

With the aim to end child marriage in Rajasthan by 2030, the state government should now intensify the fight by reaching out to religious leaders and generating awareness about the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006. This was discussed at a state consultation held by the Department for Child Rights (DCR), Rajasthan in coordination with Child Marriage Free India (CMFI) and supported by its coalition partner Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) in Jaipur. CMFI is the coalition of 160 NGOs working at the grassroots level in over 300 districts across the country to end child marriage by 2030.

Status of child marriages in the state, required interventions to combat child marriage, challenges faced in the implementation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, linkages between child marriage and POCSO as well as district-level good practices in addressing these two issues were discussed during the day-long consultation. Justice Vijay Kumar Vyas, Former Judge, Rajasthan High Court; Sangeeta Garg, Member, Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (RSCPCR); Swati Rao, Deputy Secretary, Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority (RSLSA); Rashi Dogra Dudi, IPS-DCP, Jaipur North along with NGOs participated in the consultation.

Stressing the need to take urgent and immediate action to end child marriage, chief guest Justice Vijay Kumar Vyas, former judge, Rajasthan High Court, said, “We need to exercise zero tolerance towards child marriage in Rajasthan to eliminate it completely. We need to rope in Panchayat heads and religious leaders for awareness and knowledge-building among the masses. Besides, we must make society aware of the many consequences of child marriage. The fact that child marriage is a crime and the law prohibiting it needs it to be widely known by the common man if we want this social menace to end.”

Further elaborating on how child marriage is not just one crime but many, Rashi Dogra Dudi, IPS-DCP, Jaipur North, said, “When a child is pushed into marriage, it is a violation of her basic rights. In the case of child marriage, it involves everything from PCMA to POCSO to trafficking and much more and we, as police officials, are well aware of this. We are trying our best to ensure that more and more FIRs are registered and all the victim children get the justice they deserve.”

Emphasizing that ending child marriage would require the convergence of all the stakeholders, Dhananjay Tingal, Executive Director, Bachpan Bachao Andolan, said, “Child marriage is a deep-rooted issue and eliminating it completely requires an amalgamation of thought, action, strategy and budget. The way the Rajasthan government has taken up this fight is very promising. On October 16, many government departments in Rajasthan led a statewide drive and officials along with the masses had taken pledges against child marriage. This consultation is the next big step to intensify the fight and bring together the various stakeholders to work in tandem to end child marriage by 2030.” Bachpan Bachao Andolan, also known as the Association for Voluntary Action (AVA), is a coalition partner of Child Marriage Free India.

On October 16 last year, various state government departments including Panchayati Raj, the Police department, and the Education department issued circulars directing their respective departments and officials to take part in Child Marriage Free Rajasthan.

Notably, as per the National Family Health Survey 5 (NHFS 2019-21), 23.3 per cent of girls in the age group of 20-24 were married off before attaining the age of 18, while Rajasthan stands at 25.4 percent.