Study finds sharp decline in child marriage

Child marriage in India has seen a marked decline, with cases among girls falling by 69 per cent and among boys by 72 per cent, according to a report by Just Rights for Children (JRC), an NGO working to prevent violence against children. The findings were presented at a side event during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York.

The report, “Tipping Point to Zero: Evidence Towards a Child Marriage Free India”, highlights that arrests and FIRs have emerged as the strongest deterrents. Assam recorded the steepest decline in child marriages of girls at 84 per cent, followed by Maharashtra and Bihar (70 per cent each), Rajasthan (66 per cent) and Karnataka (55 per cent).

The study covered 757 villages across five states, using multi-stage stratified random sampling. Data was collected at village level from frontline service providers including ASHA and Anganwadi workers, schoolteachers, health professionals and members of Panchayati Raj Institutions.

Awareness of the Centre’s Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat campaign was found to be near-universal, with 99 per cent of respondents familiar with it. NGOs were the key source of awareness in Bihar (93 per cent), Maharashtra (89 per cent) and Assam (88 per cent), while schools played a crucial role in Rajasthan (87 per cent) and Maharashtra (77 per cent).

JRC recognised Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma with the Champions of Change Award for his leadership in reducing child marriages. JRC founder Bhuwan Ribhu said the success stemmed from a three-pronged approach of prevention, protection and prosecution.

The report also flagged persistent barriers to education, citing poverty (88 per cent), inadequate infrastructure (47 per cent), safety concerns (42 per cent) and poor transport links (24 per cent). Only 31 per cent of surveyed villages reported that all girls aged 6–18 attended school, with wide disparities between states—Bihar at just 9 per cent compared with Maharashtra at 51 per cent. Poverty (91 per cent), safety (44 per cent) and entrenched social norms were cited as drivers of child marriage.

Since 2023, JRC claims to have prevented 3,97,849 child marriages, rescued 1,09,548 children from trafficking and forced labour, filed 74,375 cases against traffickers and supported 32,000 survivors of sexual abuse. On average, the network reports preventing 18 child marriages every hour in India.

Recommendations include stricter enforcement of child marriage laws, compulsory registration of marriages, improved reporting systems, greater village-level awareness of the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat portal and the declaration of a national day against child marriage.

The UNGA side event was organised in partnership with the offices of the First Lady of Sierra Leone, the Government of Kenya, the World Jurist Association and Jurists for Children Worldwide and was attended by international representatives and child rights officials.