Poverty still the leading cause of child marriage

Mysuru: Child marriages may be banned in the country, but they are rampant in  the Uppar community found in several villages of T Narsipur taluk, and what is more, the people here openly justify them saying they are  part of their custom.

Not surprisingly, the  Supreme Court order of Wednesday defining "sex with a minor wife” as rape has come as a shock to the Uppars, who find it far too harsh.

“It is a custom in our community for a girl to be married before she attains puberty. If she is over 15  she has to marry a widower or a divorcee or remain unmarried for the rest of her life. Early marriage ensures our girls are safe considering the number of child rape cases and elopements we are seeing today.  We all married when we were young and had healthy babies.  Such punishment is too harsh on us,” said a villager, Vasantha (name changed) of Hosalli Mole village. Going by sources in the Women and Child Development Department, there have been at least 32 child marriages in Hosalli Mole, Moogur Mole and Kanhalli Mole in T Narsipur taluk in the recent past,. But  police records say only six child marriages were reported  in the whole of Mysuru district in 2016.

An anganwadi worker in one of the villages lamented that whenever they tried to prevent child marriages, they were abused and threatened by the villagers.

But senior advocate,  Arun Kumar believes the problem lies in poor implementation of the law. And says it is upto the authorities concerned to create proper awareness and educate people. “They must book cases against those who fail to follow the law. If they  don’t do that, they must be held accountable, and punished for  abetment,” he contended.

Observing that most child marriages took place among the ignorant and illiterate people in rural areas like the Uppars, he stressed, “The government needs to take measures for the economic development of such communities if it hopes to eradicate these practices among them.”