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Girls become mother of one or more children before attaining legal marriage age of 18
Jawadhu Hills
Two
summers ago, precisely on July 10 in 2016, a 45 year-old man tied the
knot to a girl 3o years younger to him. The class X student, who was
forced out of the school, was his second wife and one among the hundreds
of child marriage victims in Jawadhu Hills.
With
no law enforcing agency taking measures to save young girls from the
clutches of the child or minor marriages, getting married at the age of
14 or 15 has become part and parcel of the lives of many girls in the
tribal villages of Jawadhu Hills.
Over
70 percent of the girls, before attaining the lawful age of marriage of
18 years, have become the mother of one or more children here. However,
the marriages are neatly tucked under the cover of the tribals culture
and none see any wrong in it. Government officials shrug off the issue,
stating that early marriage is part of their culture and lifestyle.
Shanthi
(name changed) had no say when her marriage was fixed with A
Dhamodharan of Puliyamarathur village in Anaicut Taluk in Vellore
district in July 2016.
She
was in class X then, and discontinued from school. Her teacher found
that her family had fixed the marriage only after inquiring with her
brother, who was in class IV. “The groom was about 45 years-old. His
family fixed the marriage with Shanthi as he did not have a child with
his first wife,” said the teacher. However, the girl sent back home
within a month of the marriage. She was living with her parents now in
Korathur village.
There
were many like Shanthi in the 350- odd villages in the 17 panchayats in
the hills in Vellore and Tiruvannamalai districts. “Over 70 percent of
the married girls are victims of child marriage. They
get married between 14 to 16 years,” said P Murugan of Childline in
Jamunamaruthur.
They
rescued a class XI girl student and XII boy student who married two
months ago, he said and adding, “The entire village/community is turning
against us when we try to stop child marriage. We even chased and
threatened when we went to stop a child marriage in Mandaparai
recently,” he said.
Kumar
(name changed), 24, a tailor in Jamunamaruthur, became father of his
third child a month ago. His eldest son was studying in class II. “My
wife is two years younger to me,” said Kumar. He was 16 years at the
time of marriage, while his wife was 14 years. They studied upto class
VIII.
A
class VI student in a government tribal residential school said that a
girl of her age got married in Kovilandur two months ago. “The groom has
been staying with the girl’s house for the last two months,” said the
girl.
Inquiry
with the locals revealed that if a boy stays in the girl’s house means
that they consummated the marriage. “If the girl and the boy like each
other, they can get married or stay together (living together) without
getting married. It is a totally accepted practice here,” said an
official in Social Welfare Department.
Child Line
has an exclusive office in Jamunamaruthur to stop child marriages but
its performance has been disappointing, said the official. “Last year,
they managed to stop only 13 child marriages but we are not happy with
the local staff, who belong to Jamunamaruthur. They prefer not to act
upon complaints,” added the official.
Calling
the data with health department nothing but a smoke and mirrors, a
village health nurse said that they randomly entered the age of the
ante-natal mother as 18 or above, to keep the records clean. “Here, the
girls either lie about their age or not sure about their age. So, we
will put 18 or above based on their physical appearance,” she quipped.
However,
the block medical officer of Jamunamaruthur, Dr P Ram Manohar,
surmising his 22 years of being in service in the hills, said that
things have changed. But there is a long way to go to bail out the
community from the child marriage and host of health-related issues due
to early marriage.
However,
there are some positive signs as many victims of child marriage want
their daughters and sons to study well and escape the drudgery of the
hills. “I want my daughter to study well and go for a government job. My
daughter is now studying in class X,” said Kallimuthu and his wife
Amutha (name changed) of Kovilanur. They got married when they were 16
and 14 years respectively.
Tribal
activist and vice-present Tamil Nadu Adivasi Ammaipukkalin Kuttaiambu
Leelavathi said that they have been conducting awareness programme and
dissuading the practice of early marriage. However, it still prevails in
several tribal communities, particularly in Jawadhu Hills, in the
state.
Graphics
32 child married in
Jawadhu Hills since 2015. Of them, 13 marriages stopped in 2017. It is
less than 10 percent of the total child marriages take place in the
hills.
Girls
as young as 13 0r 14 years are getting married. Boys are
getting married as young 16 or 17 years. Most of them consummate the
marriage.
Two month ago, a class XII boy got married to class XI girl of the same school in Jamunamaruthur, according to Child Line
Theertha Kovil and Perumal Kovil in Alangayam on the foothills of Jawadhu Hills are the hotspot for the child marriage.
Primary
Health Centres in Jamunamuaruthur and Nammiyampattu records average of
45 child birth per month. A majority of mothers are victims of child
marriage.
Village
administrative officers (VAO), police and village health nurses (VHNs)
are well aware of child marriages, but cease to act against the
ill-practice. Thus encourage the tribals continue with their age-old
practice
Health
issues due to child marriage - 7 out of 10 children are malnourished in
Jawadhu Hills. 40 percent of the tribals have nutrition disorder and
suffer from protein deficiency anaemia, according to health department
officials
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