Crackdown on child marriage: Two cases stopped in Koriya district
District administration intervenes to stop underage marriages
Ambikapur | Correspondent: In a major crackdown on child marriage in Chhattisgarh's Koriya district, a District Magistrate (DM) intervened to stop marriages by issuing a prohibitory order. Two child marriages were scheduled to take place on the occasion of Akshay Tritiya.
In the first incident, a 15-year-old girl was set to marry a 22-year-old man, while in the second case, the marriage of a 17-year-old boy had been arranged with a 22-year-old woman.
The NGO 'Holistic Action Research and Development,' along with the Child Protection Team, initially counseled the families; however, when the relatives remained adamant and unruly, the DM sought intervention.
Exercising the powers vested under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the DM issued an order, following which both marriages were cancelled.
The administration is now initiating the process of linking these families to government welfare schemes and disability pensions in an effort to curb such marriages, which are often driven by economic hardship. Notably, according to NFHS-5 data, the prevalence of child marriage in Chhattisgarh stands at 12%, which is significantly lower than the national average.
