Two Minor Girls Stopped From Being Married Off In Rajasthan

Officials on Saturday stopped two child marriages from being solemnised in Rajasthan's Kota and Bundi districts on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, they said. Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akha Teej, is believed to be an auspicious occasion when girls and boys are tied in nuptial knots in large numbers, particularly in the rural belt of the Hadoti region. Officials, after receiving reports regarding the wedding of a 17-year-old girl in the Suthli village of Suwadia gram panchayat in Bundi district, stopped it from being solemnised, Tehsildar Mahesh Chandra Sharma said.  

The administration also deputed a patwari (a government official) and a beat constable at her home to prevent her parents from trying again to solemnise her wedding, he added.  Her parents were also restricted from contacting her till she turned 18 years old. Since January, the administration has received reports of three other child marriages from the area. However, on verification, only one girl was found to be underage, the tehsildar said. In the Kota district, officials from the Department for Child Rights and the Child Welfare Committee stopped the marriage of another 17-year-old girl in the Kaithun area. 

The team reached the spot during a pre-wedding ceremony on Friday evening, Department for Child Rights Assistant Director Dr Ajit Sharma said. The authorities have stopped seven child marriages in the district since the beginning of the year, he added. Sharma said teams comprising personnel from various departments were formed to keep a vigil to prevent possible child marriages. However, no other such reports were received.  State government officials said the number of instances of child marriages declined over the years due to awareness and vigilance of the government machinery. The Hadoti region was once synonymous with child marriages among the area's backward communities. The authorities prevented 15 child marriages from being solemnised in 2021 and 12 in 2022, Sharma claimed.