Child marriages jump during summer in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The number of  child marriages increases in the months of March, April, and May in the city and its outskirts. Officials from the women and child welfare department and childline say that they have been getting increasing numbers of alerts during this season. While Hyderabad childline officials rescued 10 child brides in the last seven weeks, Ranga Reddy officials rescued 40 minor girls before they were married off in March and in April.   

A usual pattern seen in these child marriages is that most girls had just finished their Class X exam. The officials now expect the number to go up in May also. Ranga Reddy Child Welfare Committee in-charge chairman A. Venkateshwaralu said the number of rescued child brides were higher in March and April.

“It shows that these parents had planned the wedding,” said another official from CWC. The most common reason for these child marriages is the financial condition of the parents who fear that if their child grows up they will have to pay a huge amount as dowry.  

“Another reason we found while rescuing the children was that the parents were also anxious that their girls might fall in love and bring a bad name to the family,” said Achyuta Rao, Member of State Commission for  Protection of Child Rights, who was involved in the rescue of 20 child brides in the last 20 days.

Child right activists say that this is the time to launch awareness programmes to check child marriages. VROs or their counterparts in municipalities should watch families and conduct awareness programmes,” said an activist.

Childline team rescues girl:

Hyderabad Childline officials prevented a child marriage and rescued a 15-year-old girl from her house at Tukaramgate on Monday morning. The girl’s wedding was planned for April 22 with a 30-year-old man from Alwal. Her parents had agreed to give '5 lakh as dowry to the groom, who works in Muscat. The girl was shifted to the rescue home in Nimboli Adda.

Childline officials had received a tip off from their sources. A team from Childline and cops from Tukaramgate went to the child bride’s house, near the Tukkaramgate police station. Officials found that the groom Srinivas was already married. His first wife, who came to know about the incident through TV channels, came to Tukkaramgate. “Her wedding was arranged with Srinivas, who is much older than her. Her father K. Shankar found the dowry was less compared to the other offers  they received.