Child marriage to decline in Krishnagiri, Tamil Nadu by 2023

Krishnagiri: District social welfare officer and child marriage prohibition officer, K Vijayalakshmi, said due to the combined efforts of various departments and the district administration, there has been a significant decline in the practice of child marriage in Krishnagiri. He said, although there were 182 child marriages last year, this year the figure has come down to 57, indicating a decline in these types of marriages.

“This year, in January and April, new child marriages were stopped. Additionally, the highest number of petitions related to child marriage were received at 18 in May and 19 in September”, he said. Last year, 190 complaints of child marriage were received. Although 182 of them were arrested, all eight cases were registered after their conviction.

Thirty marriages were suspended in June and 25 cases were suspended in February. He said awareness programs organized in villages and schools by the police, child protection unit, tax agencies, health and local organizations are helping in reducing child marriage.

He said that the original collector KM Saryu and former collectors Deepak Jacob and Dr V Jaya Chandra Bhanu Reddy will hold working group meetings and carry out continuous monitoring to end the cases of child marriage.