Poverty, Illiteracy & Blind Belief Root Causes Of Child Marriages: Justice Mohapatra

Bhubaneswar: Poverty, illiteracy and blind belief are the root causes behind child marriages and there is a need to spread of awareness to combat the evil, said former Chief Justice of Manipur High Court, Laxmikanta Mohapatra on Thursday.

“The government as well as social organisations have to play critical roles to stop this ignoble practice,” he said while speaking as the chief guest at a national consultative conclave on ‘Ending Child Marriage in India: Moving from Law to Justice’ organised at the SOA (Deemed to be University) here.

The programme was jointly organised by the SOA National School of Law, SOA’s Faculty of Legal Studies and Peoples’ Cultural Centre (PECUC), a right based and advocacy oriented NGO.

Statistics discussed at the conclave revealed that 27 out of 100 marriages solemnized in the country involved children while the figure was 21 for Odisha.

In the state’s districts, however, it was high with Malkangiri (78.1), Nabarangpur (72.5), Koraput (62.1), Rayagada (58.3), Ganjam (51.5), Nayagarh (43), Gajapati (43) and Mayurbhanj (42.2) figuring at the top.

The practice was also picking up in Odisha’s coastal belt, PECUC convenor Ranjan Mohanty.

Two technical sessions were held covering issues on the impact of early marriage of children, pregnancy, health and socio-economic aspects.

The speakers also critically analysed the provisions of various international conventions and national laws including the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, Juvenile Justice Act and Dowry Laws.

The effectiveness of compulsory registration of marriages, access to the same in rural areas, amendment to the age of consent and provisions for stricter punishments were reviewed.

Issues like responsibility of the district magistrates and nodal officers, their delegation of work and failure on implementation of action plans were also discussed.

Training of police officers and nodal officers was widely recommended to sensitise the community and ensure proper implementation of the laws at the ground level.

The recommendations of the conclave would be submitted to the National Human Rights Commission, informed SNIL Dean, Prof Prabir Kumar Pattanaik.