Hyderabad: The registration of marriages must be made mandatory and government must implement the law strictly. Because it was not being enforced, people were getting away after performing child marriages, second marriages and even ‘secret marriages’, women’s panel chief Dr Tripurana Venkataratnam said. “When a woman who is left in the lurch states that she is married, there must be a state registration certificate to establish it,” she said.
Ms Venkataratnam said activists had stopped more than 50 child marriages already this year but many more such marriages had been performed. A senior child rights officer explained, “We have acted only in cases where we received information. But there have been marriages where the child bride has not been able to reach out for help. This can be controlled if there is a strict law to register the marriage. Most of the child brides migrate to other places and it becomes very difficult for them to get any help.”
A senior officer in the women and child welfare department said, “In March, all the collectors had carried out awareness camps asking couples to register marriages. They sent out staff to the villages and counselled them. But it has hardly had any effect. Only those who are going abroad are registering the marriages.”
