Village chiefs, councillors to be accountable for child marriages, says state women’s panel

The Haryana state commission for women will recommend that village chiefs and councillors of urban local bodies be held accountable if child marriages take place in their jurisdiction. The local representatives will be asked to certify the age of persons getting married, and, in case the commission gets information or a complaint regarding such a marriage being conducted, the local councillor or village chief will be tasked to prevent it. The commission hopes the move will curb the prevalence of child marriages in Haryana.

Haryana state commission for women on Monday said it has decided to recommend that village sarpanches (chiefs) and councillors of urban local bodies be held accountable is any child marriage takes place in their jurisdiction.

Gurugram, India-April 03, 2023: Renu Bhatia, Chairperson Haryana State Women's Commission held a meeting about domestic violence in PWD rest house at Sohna road near District court, in Gurugram, India, on Monday, 03 April 2023. (Photo by Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)(Pic to go with Abhishek's story)

Renu Bhatia, chairperson of the state women’s commission, said local representatives will be asked to certify the age of persons getting married, and, in case the commission gets information or a complaint regarding such a marriage being solemnised , the local councillor or village chief will be tasked to prevent it.

The decision was taken after the commission took cognisance of the widespread prevalence of such illegal marriages in Haryana, said Bhatia, who was in Gurugram on Monday to chair a meeting to.discuss issues being faced by protection officers in the state.

According to the data shared by the commission, the maximum number of child marriages, in the past one year, took place in Fatehabad (30), Karnal (25), Hisar (32), Jind (15), Sonepat (12), Kaithal (16), Palwal (15), Yamuna Nagar (10), Rohtak (15), Mewat (8) and Faridabad (8).

She said the commission will ask the government to appoint more district protection officers and provide them vehicles to make them more effective.

“In order to curb child marriages, which are routinely reported from several districts in the state, we have decided to work with elected representatives in panchayats and municipal bodies. When a matter of such a wedding comes to the knowledge of the commission or the district protection officer, the councillor or sarpanch will be asked to certify the age of the bride and groom, and if there is any wrongdoing, the councillor/sarpanch will be held accountable,” said Bhatia, who became the commission chairperson last year.

Ramzan Chaudhary, advocate, Nuh, and former president of Mewat Vikas Manch, said holding local representatives accountable was a positive step, but it must be accompanied by a statewide awareness campaign.

“The problem of child marriages is most severe in Mewat as almost 30% marriages taking place there are of underaged persons but these are not reported. If sarpanches are held accountable, then it would help in curbing this menace. The government must also create awareness against this social evil,” he said.

In the past one year, the state commission got 2,246 complaints of domestic violence, extramarital affairs and cyber crimes against women. The cyber crime complaints mostly involved photos of women being morphed and circulated online. “We managed to resolve 1,775 complaints,” Bhatia said.

Inspector Poonam Singh, who was present in the meeting, said crimes against women is being dealt with strictly in the city as Gurugram police is fully sensitized towards such issues. “We have a very quick response time to distress calls by women. Issues such as domestic violence are seen seriously and action taken immediately,” she said.