Karnataka Crushes Child Marriage Rates By 55% In Girls, 88% In Boys

Karnataka is witnessing a sharp decline in child marriages, recording a 55 percent drop in child marriage among girls and a steep 88 percent among boys in the last three years, a new report reveals. The report, Tipping Point to Zero: Evidence Towards a Child Marriage Free India, released by Just Rights for Children (JRC), notes that at the national level, child marriages declined by 69 percent among girls and 72 percent among boys. In other surveyed states, child marriage among girls reduced by 84% in Assam, 70% each in Maharashtra and Bihar and 66% in Rajasthan. The report attributes this unprecedented decline to the coordinated action of the Government of India, state governments, and civil society organisations over the past three years.

Notably, among the surveyed states, Karnataka is the only one that relied more on helplines (75%) and Child Welfare Committees (53%) than on local police stations (40%), showing a "critical link between trust in reporting mechanisms and respondents' comfort in utilizing them," the report said. The findings reveal that while 92 percent of respondents identified awareness campaigns as the most effective tool in reducing child marriages, 50 percent cited prosecution through FIRs and arrests as the second most important factor. The study also stated that 99 percent of respondents had either seen or heard about the Government of India's Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign, primarily through NGO campaigns, schools, and Panchayats. The report was prepared by the Centre for Legal Action and Behaviour Change for Children (C-LAB), an initiative of JRC partner India Child Protection. Just Rights for Children, one of the largest networks with over 250 NGOs, has been working with seven NGO partners in 14 districts of Karnataka on child protection.

The report highlighted initiatives taken by the Karnataka government such as empowering Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) to register marriages, which led to this decline. "Since the PDOs are closer and known to the villagers, it is easier for them to build awareness around it as well. This resulted in 2000 cases of child marriages being stopped in the state in 2021," the report said. Karnataka is also the first state in the country that has approved the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Karnataka Amendment) Bill, 2005 which makes even an engagement involving minors a criminal offence.

Lauding Karnataka's lead in the fight to end child marriage, Ravi Kant, National Convenor, Just Rights for Children, said, "By declaring even engagements in child marriage cases a punishable offence, the Karnataka government has fortified the entire child protection ecosystem. Such strict measures are vital to dismantle this centuries-old crime against children. The state must now ensure its law enforcement agencies act decisively. With communities and authorities working in full trust and coordination, child marriage in Karnataka will be eradicated."

The study also found that fear of social stigma (79%) and lack of awareness (62%) were the two most important barriers preventing people from reporting child marriages. As per Census 2011, 4.8 lakh children were married before their legal age. However, only 783 cases of child marriage were reported during 2019-22, showing Karnataka's hesitance in reporting these cases even now.

The report further said that 100 percent of respondents in Karnataka reported taking a pledge against child marriage during the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign, and 78 percent identified NGOs as the lead facilitators in the campaign and the pledge.

The key recommendations of the report include strict enforcement of child marriage law, better reporting mechanisms, compulsory marriage registration, and village-level awareness of the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat portal for the elimination of child marriage by 2030. The report also recommends designating a National Day Against Child Marriage to mobilize support for a Child Marriage Free India.

The report, released during a side event at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, is based on field data from 757 villages across five states selected zone-wise and adopted the Multistage Stratified Random Sampling method. In Karnataka, 151 villages were surveyed, and frontline service providers such as ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, school teachers, auxiliary nurse midwives, and Panchayat Raj Institution (PRI) members were engaged.