The rise in number of cases of child marriage in West Bengal has been alarming ever since the breakout of the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to acute poverty it is difficult for students in rural areas to have access to smartphones or laptops. Since these children have no access to education they are barely aware of their rights. Further, abject poverty has also forced many people to marry away their children before the legal age either owing to societal pressure or in exchange of money. In order to stop the evil practice many NGOs and social workers are setting up awareness camps across the state to sensitise the locals.
Recently, a minor girl from Assam was rescued by police station from Egra in East Midnapore. Purnendu Puranik, an official of the East Midnapore Social Welfare Department, said that in June itself they came across 12 cases of child marriage. The authorities have registered cases against all those who were involved in the illegal activity. In general the instances of child marriage have been on the rise in the country since the pandemic began.
According to a report published by United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF), there will be an additional 10 million child marriages across the world before the decade ends. The report asserted that around 100 million girls were anyway at the risk of getting married before the legal age. But with the pandemic the chances of it have increased.
This number is after several countries reported a significant decline in the cases of child marriage. It was previously reported that in the last decade the proportion of young women who married as children had dropped by 15%. The maximum number of child marriages happen in countries like Ethiopia, India, Bangladesh, Brazil, and Nigeria.
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