A UNICEF (The United Nations Children’s Fund) conducted detailed study in Rajasthan and concluded that Barmer and Jaisalmer districts are the most vulnerable areas in terms of child marriages. Akshaya Tritiya is the festival celebrated in India and is considered as a holy day for marriages. Resultantly, most child marriages happen on this day. This year, most of the complaints of child marriages came from the Barmer district of Rajasthan.
G K Vyas, who is legal services authority chairman from the Jodhpur part of the Rajasthan High Court and including many other judges conducted the awareness campaigns in the Rajasthan which gave good results. These were held to give good results to put a halt on the child marriages.
This time, a good number of 30 child marriages were hooked in the areas of Barmer and Jaisalmer districts. Out of this number, 26 were from Barmer district which were stopped after receiving instructions from the authorities. As per the data of UNICEF, 16 districts in the state are very vulnerable from the point of view of child marriages. The body has even made a budget of Rs. 60,000 as fuel budget.
Most of these child marriages happen in Barmer and Jaisalmer areas of Rajasthan. Most of these marriages were conducted in Jat and Bishnoi communities. As per the rituals of the Bishnoi community, when someone dies, the relatives are provided a large level feast on the 12th day. This is the day, when many child marriages are also conducted.
The times have changed a lot and the children are considered as eligible for marriage when they reach the age of adulthood. In fact, many girls don’t accept their conducted child marriages. Many cases have been filed where the girls are waiting for a help from the court and declare their marriage as “non-considerable”.
