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Petition to the Chief Minister of Karnataka, India
- To,
- Sri Dharam Singh,
- Honourable Chief Minister
- Vidhana Soudha
- Bangalore – 560 001
- India
Dear Sir,
Subject: Petition to demand for immediate State
action to end the practice of Child marriages in Karnataka.
Child marriage is one of the most distressing social
maladies of our times. Despite the Child marriage Restraint Act that
came into force as early as 1929, when the first voice against this evil
practice was raised, it is a matter of shame to all of us that child
marriage continues to be practised in our State, Karnataka.
According to the findings of the National Family
Health Survey II held in 1998-99, 65% of girls in India are married by
the time they are 18 years of age and 33% of them are married by the
time they attain the age of 15. In many states of India, more than 50%
of girls are married off before they actually attain the age of 16
years. Of the 4.5 million marriages that take place in India every year,
3 million involve girls in the age groups of 15-19 years.
The National Family Health Survey II of 1998-99
shattered the common belief that child marriages only occur in the
‘backward classes, In our very own State of Karnataka, examples of child
marriage abound not only among the Gowli community in Dharwad,
but also in several rural districts in North Karnataka and in urban
areas of Bangalore City.
Child marriages have a social sanction in many parts
of the State. They are considered a means to protect girl children from
sexual harassment in some situations and as a means to cut down the cost
of marriage in others. Many ‘reputed’ and ‘leading’ adult members of the
community have in the past directly or indirectly been party to child
marriages and find it very difficult to take a strong position against
it in public. There is also hesitation on the side of some political
leaders to take a public stand against child marriages as it will affect
their vote banks.
The law on child marriages is extremely weak. The
fines imposed on those who are party to a child marriage are very
minimal. Once conducted, it is not clearly stated if the child marriage
can be annulled on the basis of the present Child Marriage Act.
Very few adults and children are aware of the
immediate and long-term costs of child marriages. Those who are aware do
not have sufficient social support to take strong positions against it.
We, like many other civil society organisations in
the country, have been combating child marriage for many years in our
field areas, surmounting numerous obstacles and enduring repeated
assaults aimed at silencing us. We have developed strategies to address
the root causes of child marriage, which have offered communities
various alternatives to marrying off their children at young ages.
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We say "NO" to child marriage
Children in our organisation’s field programme
areas have been able to set up stringent social monitoring systems
and have been able to take very important first strides in
connection with child marriage. The children have initiated their
struggle with the help of our organisation, The Concerned for
Working Children (CWC) and few other supportive adults. Soon they
were able to elicit the support and collaboration of the Panchayat,
police, the media and the district administration. They have been
able to stop several child marriages in Bellary and Davangere
districts despite of strong resistance from some quarters of their
communities and have successfully made child marriages a social
issue.
In Bellary, this effort was spearheaded by
Uchengamma, who was then 14 years old:
"I will not get married until I am 18 Years. Many
child marriages have taken place in our community. I always wanted
to oppose and check this practice and the opportune time did come" I
got the will to oppose this practice when my family members started
talking about my marriage. "What helped my success in my struggle,
and what helped me to distinguish my self from the rest of the
children was my firm resolve to oppose the practice". "I didn’t
change my resolve under any pressure. When I approached the police
for help the encouragement and the support they extended to me was
very helpful.
When the police did question me, the answer I
gave to them was this: "I am not speaking in the capacity of state
level president of Bhima Sangha. Instead I am speaking on behalf of
all those minor girls. If I myself don’t get protection, there is no
doubt about injustice being meted out to many minor girls? If I
don’t get protection, the members of our Sangha will question you"
on hearing this, the police initiated the needful action. Parental
and Community’s support is very essential while taking such
decision. When this kind support is unavailable, it becomes
imperative and inevitable to seek support from others.
It was only after I joined the union that I got
information about child marriage. Parents and communities too should
get information. More and more children should get organised. If we
can get information in organisation/union it helps us grow. The
union/organisation helps us realise our rights and fight for them.
Members of Namma Sabha and Bhima
Sangha protested against the practice of child marriage and reached
out all the corners of the colonies, creating awareness about this
practice.
MLA, President of Panchayat, Makkala Mitra,
Representatives of CWC and the people of the village took part in
the protest. My parents who got to know about the negative impact
and consequences of the child marriage they strengthened my resolve.
Encouraged by their support I am now continuing with my tailoring
classes."
Press Release issued by CWC during our campaign
against child marriage in 2002 |
However, our success in this area of intervention has
been limited due to several reasons – the biggest obstacle among them
being the apathy of the State to address the issue.
During our endeavours, we have repeatedly found that
the State has been guilty of dereliction of its duty. The State
Government, elected members, the District Administration and the police
have all turned a blind eye to the practice of child marriage even when
actively requested to take action. We have also come across cases where
people in positions of responsibility and power have actively colluded
to conduct child marriages and have gone scot-free, when they were
brought to the notice of the District Administration, the District
police and the media.
The Forum for Fact Finding Documentation and Advocacy
(a registered society) filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court in
2003. In that petition, "all persons and/or
authorities of Government of India including the State Government
of Chattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Orissa,
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka within
the territory of India" were named as the respondents. The petition
states that the Respondents had been impleaded in the Petition on the
grounds of inaction on their part to prevent gross violations of
children’s rights by failing to ensure the implementation of the Child
Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 and in abetting this widespread practice by
not taking punitive action against officials responsible at various
level including police personnel.
In response to this, the Supreme Court of India,
issued an order to Karnataka and the other States named as respondents
to immediately to make a submission regarding the status of child
marriages in the States and to present the Action Taken Reports.
To date, no such report has been filed by the
Government of Karnataka.
The State’s apathy sets our work back by many
decades. It violates children's rights and leaves them even less
protected than they are from the vagaries of the adult world, which is
supposed to act in their best interests. It defies all logic and reason
besides rubbishing reams of research on the ill-effects of child
marriage, numerous SC judgements against the practice, the Universal
Declaration to Human Rights and the expressed opinions of many children
against this atrocity.
The State’s continued inaction and negligence
regarding the practice of child marriages is:
- A breach of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929.
- A breach of the Convention on Rights of Child of which India is a
signatory.
- A breach of the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of
Discrimination against Women, which has also been ratified by India.
- A breach of Article 21 that deals with the right to life and
Article 23 of the Constitution that protects citizens from bondage and
beggary.
We demand that the State implement the following with
immediate effect:
- The District Commissioner shall be held accountable and penalised
for every child marriage that takes place within her/his jurisdiction.
- The Superintendent of Police of every district shall be held
accountable and penalised for every child marriage that takes place
within the district jurisdiction.
- All government officials, including the headmasters of High
Schools and Higher Primary Schools, anganwadi supervisors, PHC
Doctors, etc., who fail to prevent child marriages from taking place
on receiving a complaint of the same shall be stringently punished.
- The State Government shall register all marriages. Such
registration shall take place with the Village Accountant.
- The reporting on child marriages shall be made mandatory by the
local administration.
- The Labour inspectors and the Education Inspectors who are
presently empowered to monitor child related violations shall be
required to monitor and arrest the practice of child marriage in their
jurisdiction.
- The Act of 1929 shall be amended to impose harsher punishments on
the one hand and on the other to include actions to create social
awareness regarding the ill effects of child marriages on the
immediate and long term wellbeing of children and their communities.
- Compensation shall be provided by the State to children who have
been subjected to child marriage.
A large number of children’s organisations, NGOs,
media persons and other citizens of this country are in solidarity with
this demand and they share our deep anguish and concern about the
perpetuation of child marriages in the State.
Sir, we are placing our demands before you for
immediate action and we await your response.
We would like to meet you on November 14, the day we
mark as ‘Children’s Day’ in this country to receive your response to
this petition.
We look forward to a prompt and speedy response that
befits the urgency with which the issue of child marriages should to be
addressed.
Thanking you,
- Damodar Acharya
- Executive Director
- The Concerned for Working Children
Enclosures:
Annexure 1:
Legal instruments that bind the State to take action against child
marriage
Annexure 2:
Messages of solidarity to fight against child marriages from around the
world
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