Highlighting the severity of child marriage and the necessity for stronger legal measures, a new study reveals that three girls are married every minute in India, yet only three cases were registered per day in 2022.
On average, only one child marriage case per district was prosecuted in 2022, according to an analysis of government data by ‘India Child Protection,’ a research team part of the ‘Child Marriage Free India’ (CMFI) network of civil society organizations.
The report draws its findings from Census 2011, the National Crime Records Bureau, and the National Family Health Survey 5 (2019-21).
Calling for legal action to end child marriage, the report highlights Assam as a model. The analysis shows an 81% reduction in child marriages across 1,132 villages in 20 districts of Assam between 2021-22 and 2023-24. The incidence of child marriages declined from 3,225 cases in 2021-22 to 627 cases in 2023-24. This decrease follows the Assam government’s crackdown on child marriages last year, which resulted in over 3,000 arrests. The report claims that 98% of respondents believed that the government’s strict enforcement in 2023 significantly reduced child marriages in their communities.
Nationally, the report shows that the total number of child marriage cases registered by the National Crime Records Bureau over the last five years (2018-2022) was only 3,863. In contrast, the 2011 Census estimates suggest around 16,21,257 child marriages occur annually in India, translating to approximately 4,442 marriages daily. The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) estimates that 23.3% of women aged 20-24 were married before turning 18.
The report also highlights prolonged court trials and a low conviction rate as major issues. In 2022, only 181 out of 3,563 child marriage cases listed for trial under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act were concluded. This slow trial rate has resulted in a 92% case pendency rate. Despite having only 3,365 cases pending, the current disposal rate suggests it may take 19 years to clear the backlog as of 2022.
Regarding conviction rates, only 11% of child marriage cases filed under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act resulted in convictions in 2022, compared to an overall conviction rate of 34% for all crimes against children that year.
The report also emphasizes the role of civil society organizations associated with CMFI, which successfully prevented 14,137 child marriages in 2023-24 through legal interventions and 59,364 with the help of panchayats. In a sample of 2,436 successfully prevented child marriages, 42% of the boys were also victims of child marriage, and in 58% of cases, the boys were over 21 years old. In nearly two-thirds of cases, the victims were set to marry boys over 21, with age differences often exceeding three years. In 12% of cases, the age difference was over seven years, with the groom being 25 years or older.
“This clearly shows that most child marriages exploit the vulnerability of young girls, with older men taking advantage of their authority and the girls’ vulnerability,” the report concludes.
