Certain social and cultural rituals of India were a curse for the whole society. Widow marriages were prohibited, sati pratha and child marriages were prevalent commonly throughout India. With the passage of time, society realised the evils of such practices and slowly with stringent laws drafted and implemented these social evils gradually disappeared from India. But somehow child marriages are still prevalent in certain areas, more common in rural areas. illiteracy, financial conditions and customs of certain areas still promote child marriages. In this age of the internet and social media how people are still indulging in such practices is beyond any logic, to tie up knots of children with each one of them unaware of their present, leave alone the future. Stringent laws are there under various sections but still, many such marriages get solemnised without being noticed or reported. Jammu and Kashmir is also grappling with such unpleasant situations many times as such LG Administration has rightly decided to appoint Child Marriage Prohibition Officers. Officers at every level are being nominated so that no such child marriage goes unreported. School teachers and panch/ sarpanches have to play the most important role to stop this practice. No need for a written complaint, any such reported incident requires immediate action and all appointed officers have sweeping powers to checkmate this devil in society. These officers have even power to annul any such marriage in court, and grant custody of the victim till her marriage at due time. The whole exercise of administration is to prevent the exploitation of girl children. Poor parents for the sake of money or due to circumstances are coerced to take such shameful steps. There are certain nexus also to send girl children to foreign countries on the pretext of studies and then solemn their marriages there itself in lieu of hefty amount. The new setup of nominated officers will definitely be a much-needed stumbling block for these illegal marriages. United efforts are required to get rid of this social evil from society now.
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