Cases of child marriages in India have seen a steady rise since 2015, according to the recent National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. A total of 785 cases were registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in 2020, compared to the 523 cases in 2019. 501 cases were lodged in 2018, while the number of child marriages stood at 395 in 2017, 326 in 2016 and 293 in 2015. The highest number of cases in 2020 were from Karnataka at 184, followed by Assam at 138, West Bengal at 98, Tamil Nadu at 77 and Telangana at 62. Indian law declares a marriage as child marriage if either the man is below the age of 21 or the woman is below the age of 18 .

Experts attributed the growing number of child marriages to a number of factors.

“It is a mix of both increased reporting and instances. There have been increased incidences of adolescents girls falling in love and eloping and getting married that also contribute to increased number of child marriages,” Roop Sen, Founding Member of Sanjog, one of the NGOs which is a part of the Indian Leadership Forum Against Trafficking, said.

Quoting grassroot organisations, he said child marriages were different from child led marriages as POSCO is invoked in number of cases of elopement.

Kaushik Gupta, Advocate, Calcutta High Court, said there had been a gradual increase in cases of child marriage being reported as government departments, District Magistrates, and local panchayats had become more conscious. “They also want to show their efficiency by preventing cases and saying at the end of the day so many child marriages have been prevented,” he said.

Anindit Roy Chowdhury, Director Programmes and Policy at Save the Children, said COVID-19 pandemic had also led to an increase in instances of child marriage, evident from the intervention required to stop parents marrying their daughters in villages that hadn’t seen a single child marriage for several years.

“Many families have lost their livelihoods and, with children at home all day, they feel they have no choice but to marry their daughter to reduce the number of mouths they have to feed,” he said.

In August, the Maharashtra government said it had stopped as many as 790 child marriages in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic.