New Delhi, 10 Jul: Prosecuting persons will not resolve issue of child marriages: SC New Delhi, Jul 10 (PTI) Prosecuting persons involved in child marriages will not resolve the problem which has social dimensions, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday while reserving the verdict on a PIL over the alleged rise in underage weddings in the country.
\nUnimpressed by the Centre\u2019s submissions that state-specific programmes like awareness campaigns and training are being undertaken, the top court said \u201cThese programmes, lectures do not really change things on the ground\u201d.
\nNGO \u2018Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action\u2019, in 2017, had filed the PIL in the top court alleging that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act was not being enforced in \u201cletter and spirit\u201d.
\nA bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra heard submissions from the counsel of the petitioner NGO and Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, before reserving the verdict.
\n\u201cIt is not about prosecution only. Prosecuting persons involved in child marriages will not resolve the problem as it has social dimensions,\u201d the bench said and asked the counsel for both sides to give suggestions on a way forward to deal with the issue.
\n\u201cWe are not here to criticise anybody. This is a social issue,\u201d the CJI said and asked the law officer to apprise as to what the government was doing on it.
\nAt the outset, the additional solicitor general informed the bench about the present status and said states like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Assam have witnessed more child marriage cases.
\nShe said northeastern states, sans Assam, have hardly any such incidents.
\nFive states and UTs including Dadra Nagar Haveli, Mizoram and Nagaland have not reported any case of child marriage, she added.
\nThe law officer referred to the data and said there was marked improvement in the last three years.
\nShe said out of 34 states and UTs, 29 have provided the data on child marriages.
\nThere was no data available on convictions in child marriage cases, she said, adding, \u201cThat data is not here. We can get it. But please see, there is a lot of improvement. There is a 50 per cent reduction in cases of child marriages compared to 2005-06.\u201d \u201cWe have to work towards the wholesome education of young girls and women. That is how one-half of the population will be able to contribute as national builders and get out of this social evil,\u201d the law officer said.
\nThe court asked why officers like district magistrates and SDMs are being given the additional charge to act as child marriage prohibition officers.
\nThe law officer said that these officers, being in a position of power in districts, are more equipped and empowered to deal with the issue of child marriages.
\nEarlier, the top court had directed the Ministry of Women and Child Development to file a status report detailing steps taken by it to execute the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.
\n\u201cThe Union of India should also engage with the State governments in order to apprise the court on the compliance by states of the provision of Section 16(3) for the appointment of the child marriage Prohibition officer. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi, 10 Jul: Prosecuting persons will not resolve issue of child marriages: SC New Delhi, Jul 10 (PTI) Prosecuting persons involved in child marriages will not resolve the problem which has social dimensions, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday while reserving the verdict on a PIL over the alleged rise in underage weddings in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-244145","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244145"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244145\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}