India orders probe into child marriages
Sunday 15-05-2005
NEW DELHI: India’s top court has ordered three states investigate reports of thousands of child marriages despite a ban on the centuries-old tradition.
State human rights commissions in Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh will launch inquiries into the secret marriages of children, some as young as toddlers, Aparna Bhat, a lawyer who filed a petition, told Reuters.
… Over the years, villagers have become aggressive and attacked social activists trying to stop child marriages. Earlier this week, a man chopped off a woman official’s hands with a sword in the central state of Madhya Pradesh for trying to stop child marriages.
According to 2001 census, 6.4 million Indians under the age of 18 were married, with the desert state of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh accounting for a large chunk of such marriages.
… “This is a centuries-old tradition. It’s sometimes difficult to spot because people slip in a few children in a large mass marriage of adults,” the National Commission of Women’s Vyas told Reuters.
… In many cases girls are abandoned by their husbands and social customs and traditions make it impossible for them to marry again. reuters
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_15-5-2005_pg4_17
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