1,800+ child marriages reported in country in 2018-20

A total of 1,809 child marriage cases were registered in the country between 2018-2020, a data showed. “The number of cases of child marriage registered under the ‘Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006’, for 2018, 2019 and 2020 are 501, 523 and 785 respectively,” Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani said in written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Among the states, Karnataka reported the highest cases 368, followed by Assam 341 and West Bengal 236. The Minister further informed that the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) compiles and publishes the data on the number of cases of child marriage registered under the PCMA, 2006 in its publication ‘Crime in India’. Irani also said that the Government introduced a Bill ‘The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 in the Parliament on December 12 last year for raising the age of marriage of women to 21 years.

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