End Child Marriage in India | BRAC Fight for Protection and Change

1. Introduction: The Urgency of Ending Child Marriage
In homes, villages, and cities across India, millions of children continue to have their childhoods stolen through early marriage. Child marriage—one of the most harmful practices against children’s rights and dignity—continues to affect millions of young people every year. According to the National Family Health Survey-5, 23.3% of women aged 20-24 years were married before age 18 during 2019-21, though more recent data from 2024 shows the rate has increased to 25.6%, indicating that this harmful practice persists despite laws meant to stop it. The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) documented a shocking six-fold surge in registered child marriage cases, jumping from 1,002 cases in 2022 to 6,038 cases in 2023, with Assam alone accounting for 5,267 cases or 87% of the national total.

Each number represents a child whose future was decided without their choice. A young girl taken out of school and married to an older man she barely knows. A boy forced to take on adult responsibilities before he is ready. A teenager who loses the chance for education, career, and dreams. These marriages cause permanent damage to physical health, mental well-being, education prospects, and economic opportunities that affect survivors for their entire lives.

The crisis affects children across India but hits girls hardest. Most victims of child marriage are females, making this clearly a practice rooted in gender-based control and discrimination. According to UNICEF, India accounts for one in every three child brides worldwide, with over 222 million girls and women married before age 18. In 2024, every minute, 3 girls get married in India, yet only 3 cases were registered daily for prosecution, showing the massive gap between reality and legal action.

The reasons behind child marriages are deeply troubling. Families marry daughters early to reduce financial burden, believing it secures their future and protects family honor. Deep poverty drives parents to see marriage as a way to have one less mouth to feed. Lack of education means families do not understand the harm they cause. Gender discrimination makes families value sons more than daughters, leading them to marry girls off quickly. In many communities, girls are seen as a burden, and marrying them young is wrongly believed to be the best option.

The harm extends far beyond losing childhood. Child brides face early pregnancy before their bodies are ready, leading to high rates of death during childbirth, permanent health damage, and babies born with health problems. They experience years of domestic violence, with no power to protect themselves. Many develop severe depression, anxiety, and loss of hope for the future. Their education stops, trapping them in poverty for life. The cycle continues as these child brides have daughters who also get married young.

Despite the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act passed in 2006 that made child marriage illegal with strict punishment, the practice continues. The gap between the law on paper and reality on the ground remains wide. Families still arrange child marriages, often keeping them secret. Police sometimes refuse to register complaints, saying it is a family matter. Courts move slowly, and perpetrators rarely face consequences. Many children lack knowledge of their rights or how to get help.

2. Understanding the Issue: The Scope and Impact of Child Marriage
Child marriage in India represents a harmful practice that destroys millions of childhoods, futures, and lives. Understanding the full scope requires examining who is affected, why marriages happen, where they occur most, what children endure, and the deep impact on individuals, families, and communities.

The Scale of the Crisis: Current Statistics and Trends
The data on child marriage reveals troubling patterns.

• Recent Prevalence Numbers: The National Family Health Survey-5 documented that 23.3% of women aged 20-24 years were married before age 18 during 2019-21, showing significant decline from 47% in 2006. However, updated 2024 data shows the rate has increased to 25.6%, indicating backsliding in progress. This means approximately 222.4 million girls and women in India were married as children, with 90.5 million married before age 15.
• Registered Cases: The National Crime Records Bureau documented a dramatic escalation in child marriage cases under the PCMA, rising from 395 cases in 2017 to501 in 2018, 523 in 2019, 785 in 2020, and 1,050 in 2021. In 2022, cases dropped slightly to 1,002, but 2023 saw a shocking six-fold surge to 6,038 registered cases, representing the highest number ever recorded. This massive spike demonstrates either a genuine increase in child marriages or significantly improved enforcement and reporting. In 2024-25, civil society organizations documented 1,351 child marriages that were stopped and 779 FIRs registered, with thousands more prevented through community interventions.
• Underreporting Problem: These official numbers represent only a tiny fraction of actual child marriages. Every minute, 3 girls get married in India, meaning approximately 4,400 child marriages happen every day, yet only 3 cases are registered daily for prosecution. This massive gap between reality and legal action shows that most child marriages go unreported because families keep them secret, communities accept them as normal, police refuse to register complaints, or children lack knowledge of their rights and how to get help.
• Gender Breakdown: The overwhelming majority of child brides are girls and young women. Research from Census 2011 shows 8.9 million of the 12 million married children in India are girls. Girls face much higher risk than boys because families see them as financial burdens, believe early marriage protects their honor, and prioritize sons’ education over daughters’ well-being.
• Age Patterns: Most child brides are girls between ages 12 and 17, often married to men significantly older than them. Many are married even before reaching puberty. The younger the girl, the more severe the health risks from early pregnancy and childbirth.
• Judicial Delays: The criminal justice system moves extremely slowly in prosecuting child marriage cases. Many cases remain pending for years, allowing perpetrators to escape consequences and sending the message that child marriage is acceptable despite being illegal.

Geographic Distribution and High-Risk States
Child marriages are not spread evenly across India. Certain states show much higher rates.

• Assam: Recorded the most dramatic figures with 5,267 cases registered in 2023, representing an astonishing 87% of all child marriage cases nationwide. This represents unprecedented enforcement action by the Assam government. The state previously registered 11 cases in 2021, 5 in 2020, and 8 in 2019, making the 2023 surge particularly remarkable. Assam’s aggressive enforcement demonstrates what is possible when political will exists.
• Tamil Nadu: Showed consistent enforcement with 169 cases in 2021 and 174 cases in 2023, maintaining strong action against child marriage.
• Karnataka: Registered 273 cases in 2021 (the highest that year), dropping to 145 cases in 2023, but still showing sustained enforcement efforts.
• West Bengal: Shows consistently high numbers with 105 registered cases in 2021, 98 in 2020, 68 in 2019, and 118 cases in 2023. The state remains among those with higher than national average prevalence.
• Bihar: One of the highest prevalence states with more than 50% of women married as children by some measures. The state registered 11 cases in 2021, 5 in 2020, and 8 in 2019. Bihar faces particularly severe challenges due to deep poverty, low education rates, and strong traditional attitudes.
• Other High-Risk States: Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tripura, and Madhya Pradesh all have higher than national average prevalence of child marriage.
• Zero Reporting States: Several states and Union Territories including Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Ladakh, and Lakshadweep reported no cases under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act in 2023, raising concerns about whether child marriages are truly absent or simply unreported.
• Kidnapping for Marriage: The NCRB data revealed that 16,737 girls and 129 boys were kidnapped or abducted specifically for marriage purposes in 2023, showing the criminal dimensions of forced child marriage.

Profile of Victims and Affected Communities
Not everyone faces equal risk of child marriage.

• Girls from Poor Families: Face disproportionate risk, with nearly 40% of girls in the poorest communities married as children, twice the global average. Families experiencing deep poverty see marriage as a way to reduce costs, gain financial security through dowry or bride price, and have one less person to feed.
• Girls with Low Education: Those who drop out of school or never attend face much higher risk. Families that cannot afford school fees or do not value girls’ education marry daughters off early. Once married, girls stop education completely, trapping them in poverty for life.
• Rural and Remote Areas: While child marriages happen in cities, rural areas show higher rates because of stronger traditional attitudes about girls’ roles, less access to education and legal protection, limited economic opportunities for girls, and greater isolation from modern ideas about childhood and rights.
• Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes: Face higher rates of child marriage due to poverty, discrimination, limited access to education and services, and isolation from mainstream society.

Causes and Motivations Behind Child Marriage
Understanding why child marriages happen is key to prevention.

• Poverty and Economic Pressure: The single biggest driver of child marriage is poverty. Families with limited resources see marriage as a way to reduce financial burden, gain income through dowry or bride price, secure daughter’s future when they cannot provide for her, and form economic alliances with other families. During economic crises like floods, droughts, or pandemics, child marriage rates spike as families become desperate.
• Low Education and Lack of Awareness: Families with low education do not understand the harm child marriage causes to physical health, mental well-being, and future opportunities. They repeat patterns from their own childhoods without questioning. Girls kept out of school become available for marriage, while education creates opportunities that delay marriage.
• Gender Discrimination: Deep-rooted beliefs that girls are worth less than boys drive child marriage. Families see girls as burdens rather than assets, believe girls’ only role is as wives and mothers, prioritize sons’ education while ignoring daughters’ potential, and fear that unmarried daughters bring shame.
• Honor and Reputation Concerns: Many families believe that marrying daughters young protects family honor by ensuring girls remain virgins until marriage, prevents romantic relationships that might dishonor the family, maintains caste or community purity, and controls girls’ behavior and choices.
• Dowry Considerations: In communities where families must pay dowry to marry daughters, marrying girls young means lower dowry payments because young, uneducated girls are valued less. This creates perverse incentive to marry daughters as early as possible.
• Traditional and Cultural Norms: In many communities, child marriage is simply what everyone does. Families follow traditions without questioning, fear social isolation if they do not conform, face pressure from elders and community leaders, and believe modern laws do not apply to their customs.

The Devastating Physical Impact on Survivors
The physical harm from child marriage is severe and often permanent.

• Early Pregnancy and Maternal Death: Girls married young typically become pregnant immediately, often before age 15. Their bodies are not ready for pregnancy and childbirth. Child brides face much higher risk of death during pregnancy and childbirth compared to women who marry as adults. Complications include severe bleeding, infections, blocked labor, and damage to internal organs.
• Infant and Child Mortality: Babies born to child brides have higher rates of death in infancy and childhood. They are more likely to be born premature, have low birth weight, suffer from malnutrition, and experience stunted growth and development. Research shows children born to mothers married as minors have 22% higher risk of being stunted and 24% higher risk of being underweight compared to children of mothers married as adults.
• Repeated Pregnancies: Child brides often have many pregnancies in quick succession, with no time for their bodies to recover. This repeated stress causes permanent damage to health, increases risk of death with each pregnancy, leads to conditions like anemia and exhaustion, and accelerates aging.
• Reproductive Health Problems: Child brides experience high rates of reproductive health problems including infections, fistulas (holes between organs from difficult childbirth), infertility, painful menstruation, and damage to reproductive organs that causes lifelong pain.
• Sexually Transmitted Infections: Many child brides are married to much older men who may have multiple partners. Girls lack power to demand safe practices or refuse unwanted relations. They face high risk of HIV and other infections that damage health and can cause death.
• Malnutrition and Stunted Growth: Child brides often do not get adequate food because they eat last in families, are pregnant or breastfeeding constantly, lack knowledge of nutrition, and have no power to access resources. This causes permanent damage to bones, organs, and development.

Psychological and Emotional Trauma
The mental health impact is profound and lasting.

• Depression and Hopelessness: Child brides experience severe depression from losing childhood, being separated from family and friends, lacking control over their lives, and seeing no hope for the future. Many lose the will to live and think about ending their lives.
• Anxiety and Fear: Living with strangers in husband’s family, facing expectations they do not understand, and having no one to turn to for help creates constant anxiety and fear. Child brides live in terror of making mistakes, disappointing in-laws, or facing punishment.
• Loss of Identity and Self-Worth: Being treated as property rather than a person destroys child brides’ sense of who they are. They internalize messages that they are worthless, develop no sense of their own potential, and believe they deserve poor treatment.
• Trauma from Violence: Most child brides experience physical, sexual, and emotional violence from husbands and in-laws. This creates lasting trauma including flashbacks, nightmares, inability to trust, and damaged relationships.
• No Support Systems: Child brides are isolated from their own families, have no friends their age, are controlled by in-laws, and have no one who cares about their well-being. This isolation makes trauma worse and prevents healing.

Social and Economic Impact on Families and Communities
The effects extend far beyond individual children.

• Education Loss: Child marriage ends education for millions of girls and boys. When children marry, they drop out of school permanently. This loss of human potential affects not just individuals but entire communities and the nation. Countries with high child marriage rates show lower economic growth, less innovation, and higher poverty.
• Cycle of Poverty: Child brides remain poor throughout their lives because they lack education, cannot work outside the home, have no marketable skills, and remain economically dependent. Their children also remain poor, continuing the cycle across generations.
• Family Financial Burden: While families believe child marriage reduces costs, it actually increases them. Child brides’ health problems require medical care families cannot afford. Early pregnancies lead to complications needing expensive treatment. Children born to child brides often have health problems requiring ongoing care.
• Community Development: Communities with high child marriage rates show lower overall development including worse health outcomes, lower education levels, higher poverty rates, less economic activity, and more social problems. Child marriage holds back entire communities from progress.
• Gender Inequality: Child marriage reinforces beliefs that girls are worth less than boys, that women exist to serve men, and that children have no rights. This inequality affects all aspects of society including politics, economics, education, and health.

Your donation to BRAC helps address this crisis comprehensively. It funds programs that keep girls in school, empowers communities to reject harmful traditions, provides economic support so poverty does not force child marriage, offers rescue and rehabilitation for child brides, brings perpetrators to justice through legal action, and changes laws and policies to better protect children.

3. Legal Framework: Laws and Policies Protecting Against Child Marriage
India has developed a legal framework to prevent child marriage, punish perpetrators, and protect children. This framework combines constitutional rights, criminal law provisions, specialized legislation, and Supreme Court directives. However, gaps between law and enforcement persist.

IMPORTANT NOTE ON INDIAN CRIMINAL LAW (AS OF 2025):
On July 1, 2024, India implemented a new set of criminal laws. All criminal legal references in this article are based on these current laws:

• The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, which replaces the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
• The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
• The Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA), 2023, which replaces the Indian Evidence Act.
  All references to the old IPC and CrPC are obsolete for current legal matters.

Constitutional Protections: The Foundation
The Indian Constitution provides fundamental protections that form the basis for laws against child marriage.

• Article 21 – Right to Life and Personal Liberty: Guarantees every person the right to life and personal liberty, which the Supreme Court has interpreted to include the right to live with dignity, develop fully, and be free from harmful practices. This article provides the constitutional foundation for protecting children from forced early marriage.
• Article 14 – Equality Before Law: Guarantees equality before the law and equal protection of laws, requiring the state to protect all children equally from harmful practices regardless of gender, caste, religion, or region.
• Article 15 – Prohibition of Discrimination: Prohibits discrimination on grounds including sex, requiring special measures to protect girls from practices like child marriage that disproportionately harm them.
• Article 24 – Prohibition of Child Labor: Prohibits employment of children below 14 years in hazardous work, establishing the principle that childhood must be protected. This principle extends to protecting children from adult responsibilities like marriage.

The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006
India’s primary law against child marriage is the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, which replaced the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929.

Definitions Under the Act:
The law defines key terms clearly. A “child” means a person who, if male, has not completed 21 years of age, and if female, has not completed 18 years of age. A “child marriage” means any marriage to which either of the contracting parties is a child. A “minor” means a person who has not attained majority (18 years) under the Indian Majority Act, 1875.

Note on Proposed Amendment: In December 2021, the government introduced the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, proposing to increase the minimum marriage age for females from 18 to 21 years to match males. However, as of October 2025, this amendment has not been passed into law. The current legal age for marriage remains 18 years for females and 21 years for males as stated above. This article reflects the law currently in force.

• Section 3 – Voidable Nature of Child Marriage:
  Under Section 3, child marriages are voidable at the instance of the contracting party who was a child at the time of marriage. This means the child can ask the court to cancel the marriage, but it is not automatically void.
• Section 5 – Legitimacy of Children:
  Where a child marriage has been declared void by court, children born from the marriage before the court order would be deemed legitimate children with full rights.
• Section 9 – Punishment for Male Adult Marrying a Child:
  Any male adult above 18 years of age who marries a child shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to 2 years or with fine up to Rs. 1 lakh, or both. However, no woman can be punished with imprisonment under this Act.
• Section 10 – Punishment for Solemnizing Child Marriage:
  This section prescribes punishment of up to 2 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of up to Rs. 1 lakh for anyone who performs, conducts, directs, or abets a child marriage. This includes priests, marriage officers, and anyone who facilitates the ceremony.
• Section 11 – Punishment for Promoting or Permitting Child Marriage:
  Anyone who promotes or permits a child marriage to be solemnized, whether as parent, guardian, member of an organization, or in any other capacity, including attending or participating in a child marriage, or who negligently fails to prevent it, shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment which may extend to 2 years and fine up to Rs. 1 lakh. The law presumes that a person having charge of a minor child has negligently failed to prevent the marriage unless they prove otherwise.
• Section 12 – Marriage of Minor Child Void in Certain Circumstances:
  Where a child who is a minor is taken or enticed out of keeping of lawful guardian, compelled by force or induced by deceitful means to go from any place, or sold for purpose of marriage, and is made to go through a form of marriage or if married is sold or trafficked or used for immoral purposes, such marriage shall be completely null and void.
• Section 15 – Cognizable and Non-Bailable Offences:
  Section 15 of the PCMA makes all offences under the Act cognizable and non-bailable. This means police can arrest perpetrators without a warrant and courts cannot easily grant bail. This provision is critical for effective enforcement, ensuring that those who solemnize, promote, or participate in child marriages face immediate arrest and cannot escape justice by obtaining bail. The cognizable and non-bailable nature sends a strong message that child marriage is a serious crime requiring strict action.

Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 Provisions
The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 does not contain a standalone section specifically criminalizing child marriage itself. Child marriage continues to be primarily governed by the specialized Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. However, the BNS contains several provisions that address related offences and provide additional protection for children.

Section 83 – Marriage Ceremony Fraudulently Gone Through Without Lawful Marriage:
This section addresses fraudulent marriage ceremonies where someone dishonestly or with fraudulent intention goes through a marriage ceremony knowing they are not thereby lawfully married. The punishment is imprisonment up to 7 years and fine. While this is a general fraud provision not specifically about child marriage, it may apply in cases where adults deceive children into fake marriage ceremonies, or where ceremonies violate legal requirements including age restrictions.

Sections 93-99 – Offences Against Children:
Chapter V of the BNS groups offences against women and children together for the first time, giving them precedence. Sections 93-99 specifically address various offences against children including:

• Section 93: Exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years (punishment up to 7 years)
• Section 94: Concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body
• Section 95: Hiring, employing or engaging a child to commit an offence
• Section 96: Procuration of child (under 18 years)
• Section 97: Kidnapping
• Section 98: Selling child for purposes of prostitution
• Section 99: Buying child for purposes of prostitution

While these sections do not directly address child marriage, they protect children from exploitation, abandonment, and trafficking that sometimes occur in connection with forced early marriages.

Section 143 – Trafficking of Person:
Where child marriage involves trafficking (buying, selling, or transporting children for marriage), Section 143 of BNS provides severe punishment. For trafficking of any person, punishment may extend to life imprisonment with fine. Specifically, where the offence involves trafficking of a child, punishment is not less than 10 years but may extend to life imprisonment, along with fine. This applies when children are sold, bought, or trafficked specifically for marriage purposes.

Section 144(1) – Exploiting Trafficked Person:
This section provides strict punishment with minimum 5 years extendable to life imprisonment for sexual exploitation of trafficked persons, including children trafficked for marriage purposes.

Important Clarification: Because the BNS does not contain specific child marriage offences, prosecution of child marriage continues under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. The BNS provisions supplement PCMA by addressing related crimes including fraud, trafficking, and exploitation that may occur alongside child marriage.

Landmark Supreme Court Judgment: Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action (2024)
On October 18, 2024, the Supreme Court of India delivered a landmark 141-page judgment addressing child marriage, which represents the most comprehensive judicial intervention on this issue.

• Background of the Case:
  The case was filed by the Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action (SEVA) and activist Nirmal Gorana, highlighting that despite the PCMA being enacted 18 years earlier, child marriages continued at alarming rates due to inadequate enforcement and loopholes.
• Key Directions and Guidelines:
  The Supreme Court issued comprehensive guidelines for effective implementation of the PCMA, including the following critical elements.
• Prevention, Protection, and Prosecution Model:
  The Court ruled that India’s child marriage laws must be enforced using a three-pronged approach: prevention through awareness and education, protection of children at risk, and prosecution of offenders. This model aligns with successful approaches used by civil society organizations.
• State Government Responsibilities:
  The Court made state governments directly responsible for ensuring the law becomes a practical tool for protecting children’s rights rather than just words on paper. States must allocate adequate budgets, deploy sufficient personnel, and create effective systems.
• Policy and Investment Requirements:
  The judgment mandates investments in education including budgetary allocation for instruction and school buildings, capacity building in communities to recognize and prevent child marriage, knowledge and empowerment of children especially girls about their rights, creating ecosystems at all levels starting from child marriage free villages, and technology for monitoring school attendance.
• Betrothal Prohibition Recommendation:
  The Court recommended that the PCMA be amended to make the standalone act of betrothal of children (engagement or promise of future marriage) illegal, not just the marriage ceremony itself. This would allow intervention even before marriages are solemnized.
• Child Marriage Prohibition Officers:
  The judgment emphasized the need for proper appointment and functioning of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers under the PCMA, who are deemed public servants with authority to prevent child marriages.
• Court Decision on Personal Laws:
  While the Union government requested that the Court declare the PCMA must override personal laws of all religions, the Court declined to make this specific ruling, noting insufficient details about conflicting High Court opinions. However, the Court emphasized that child marriage protection must be universal.

State and Central Compensation and Support Schemes
Various schemes exist to support child marriage survivors and prevent future marriages.

• NALSA Child-Friendly Legal Services:
  The National Legal Services Authority (NALSA) provides free legal aid to child victims including girl children at risk of or affected by child marriage on priority basis. This includes legal representation, compensation claims, and counseling.
• Manodhairya Victim Compensation Scheme:
  Several states including Maharashtra have victim compensation schemes that can cover children rescued from child marriage situations, providing financial support for rehabilitation.
• State Welfare Schemes:
  Various state schemes for girl child welfare including Balika Samriddhi Yojana, Dhanalakshmi Scheme, and others aim to prevent child marriage by offering financial incentives for keeping girls in school and unmarried until legal age.
• Ujjawala Scheme:
  The Ministry of Women & Child Development implements this scheme for combating trafficking of women and children, which applies when child marriage involves trafficking.

Enforcement Gaps and Challenges
Despite strong laws, implementation remains weak.

• Massive Underreporting: With 4,400 child marriages happening daily but only 3 cases registered daily, over 99% of child marriages escape legal action. This happens because families keep marriages secret, communities see them as normal and acceptable, police refuse to register complaints calling them family matters, and children lack knowledge of how to report.
• Low Prosecution Rates: Even when cases are registered, prosecution rates remain extremely low. Of the 1,050 cases registered in 2021, conviction data shows very few actually result in punishment for perpetrators. This creates a sense that the law has no teeth.
• Child Marriage Prohibition Officers Not Appointed: Most districts lack proper appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers required under the PCMA, or officers are appointed but given no resources, training, or support to actually prevent marriages.
• Delayed Justice: Cases that do reach courts move extremely slowly, with trials taking years to complete. This delay allows perpetrators to escape consequences and discourages others from reporting.
• Police Reluctance: Despite clear legal provisions, police often refuse to register FIRs in child marriage cases, saying it is a family or community matter, that they cannot interfere in traditions, or that the law is not meant to be enforced strictly.
• Personal Laws Create Confusion: Different religious personal laws have different provisions regarding marriage age and validity, creating confusion about which law applies. Some families claim their religious law permits child marriage, though the Supreme Court has rejected this argument.

Donate to BRAC to fund our legal aid programs that help children escape forced early marriage, ensure FIRs are registered and investigated properly, provide lawyers for prosecution support, help survivors obtain whatever compensation and support is available, file public interest litigation to strengthen enforcement, and advocate for policy reforms that close gaps between law and reality. Your support ensures laws designed to protect children actually work.

4. Challenges: Barriers to Eliminating Child Marriage
Despite legal frameworks and growing awareness, eliminating child marriage faces serious challenges operating at social, economic, institutional, and cultural levels. These interconnected barriers create an environment where marriages continue.

Social and Cultural Barriers

• Deep-Rooted Traditional Attitudes: In many communities, child marriage is simply what families have done for generations. Parents marry their children young because their parents did the same, because everyone in the community does it, and because modern laws are seen as outside interference with tradition. Changing beliefs held for hundreds of years is extremely difficult.
• Acceptance of Girls’ Subordination: Deep attitudes accept that girls are worth less than boys, that girls exist to serve families and husbands, that girls’ education and dreams do not matter, and that girls should have no say in their own futures. These beliefs make child marriage seem normal rather than harmful.
• Honor and Shame Culture: Many communities believe family honor depends on controlling girls’ behavior and keeping them virgins until marriage. The fear of daughters having relationships that might dishonor the family drives parents to marry girls young before they can make independent choices. This honor culture is extremely powerful in rural areas.
• Victim Blaming and Stigma: Girls who resist child marriage or run away from forced marriage often face blame rather than support. Communities say she has dishonored her family, that she must be having improper relationships, and that she deserves punishment. This blame prevents girls from seeking help and isolates those who do resist.
• Social Pressure to Conform: Families who try to keep daughters unmarried past the typical age face intense social pressure including gossip and criticism from neighbors, isolation from community activities, difficulty finding marriage partners for sons and other daughters, and being labeled as bad parents. This pressure forces even reluctant families to conform.
• Religious and Caste Considerations: Some families believe their religion permits or even requires child marriage, though all major religions actually prohibit it. Caste considerations make families want to marry daughters within their caste before girls have opportunity to meet boys from other castes. This drives early marriage.

Economic and Practical Challenges

• Crushing Poverty: Poverty is the single biggest driver of child marriage. Families facing starvation see marriage as survival strategy, not a choice. When families cannot feed children, keeping daughters until age 18 seems impossible. Economic crises including floods, droughts, pandemics, or crop failures cause spikes in child marriage as desperate families take desperate actions.
• Dowry Economics: In communities requiring dowry payments to marry daughters, the amount demanded increases as girls get older and more educated. This creates strong incentive to marry daughters as young as possible when dowry payments are lower. Poor families see this as the only way they can afford to marry daughters at all.
• Lost School Fee Investment: Many families make calculations that if a daughter will just marry and leave, spending money on her education is wasted. They invest in sons who will remain in the family and support parents in old age. This economic reasoning ignores daughters’ potential and rights.
• Lack of Economic Opportunities for Women: In communities where women cannot work outside the home or own property, education for girls seems pointless to families. If girls cannot use education to earn income, families see no benefit to keeping them in school rather than married.
• Bride Price Benefits: In some communities, families receive bride price payments when daughters marry. This provides welcome income to poor families, creating perverse financial incentive to marry daughters young. The younger the girl, the more she may be valued as a bride.

Institutional and Enforcement Failures

• Weak Political Will: Despite laws on paper, many state governments show little genuine commitment to enforcing child marriage prohibition. Politicians fear alienating vote banks, believe enforcement will cause social unrest, lack understanding of the harm, or simply do not prioritize children’s rights.
• Inadequate Budget Allocation: The Supreme Court noted that prevention efforts can only succeed with adequate deployment of resources. However, most states allocate minimal budgets for child marriage prevention, meaning insufficient staff, no awareness campaigns, and weak enforcement systems.
• No Child Marriage Prohibition Officers: The PCMA requires appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers in every district, but most districts have not made proper appointments. Where officers exist, they often receive no training, resources, or authority to actually prevent marriages.
• Police Non-Cooperation: Police view child marriage cases as low priority, refuse to register FIRs claiming they are family matters, face pressure from powerful families and community leaders to ignore marriages, lack training on child marriage laws, and often share the same attitudes that support child marriage.
• Judicial System Failures: Courts are overloaded with cases and give child marriage cases low priority. Trials take years to complete when they move at all. Judges sometimes show attitudes sympathetic to perpetrators rather than child victims. Lack of fast-track courts means justice delayed is justice denied.
• Coordination Failures: Different departments including police, child welfare, education, and health fail to coordinate their efforts. Information about at-risk children is not shared. Systems that should protect children work in silos, allowing children to fall through cracks.

Gender and Power Dynamics

• Girls Lack Voice and Agency: In most families and communities, girls have no say in decisions about their lives. They are not consulted about marriage, have no power to refuse even if they want to, and face severe punishment if they resist. This powerlessness makes them unable to protect themselves.
• Male Authority Over Women: Cultural norms give fathers, brothers, husbands, and other male relatives complete authority over girls and women. These men make all decisions including when girls marry. Challenging male authority is seen as unacceptable and dangerous.
• Economic Dependence: Girls and women depend economically on male relatives for food, shelter, and survival. They cannot leave even abusive situations because they have nowhere to go and no way to support themselves. This dependence allows male relatives to force child marriage.
• Limited Education: Girls kept out of school remain ignorant of their rights, legal protections available to them, and how to access help. They believe marriage is their only option because they know no alternatives. Education would empower resistance, which is why families deliberately keep girls uneducated.

System and Knowledge Barriers

• Lack of Birth Registration: In many rural areas, births are not registered or registration happens years late. Without birth certificates, proving a child’s age becomes difficult. This allows families to claim girls are older than they actually are, evading child marriage prohibitions.
• School Dropout Crisis: When girls drop out of school, they become available for marriage. Factors causing dropout include poverty forcing children to work, lack of schools in rural areas, unsafe conditions traveling to schools, poor quality teaching, and family attitudes that girls do not need education. Once out of school, marriage quickly follows.
• No Community Surveillance Systems: Most communities lack systems to identify and report planned child marriages. Neighbors who know about upcoming marriages stay silent to avoid conflict. No community-level watchdog groups exist to prevent marriages before they happen.
• Limited Access to Justice: Children and families who want to resist child marriage face huge barriers to accessing justice including not knowing their legal rights, lack of free legal aid, fear of powerful families, distance to courts and police stations, and complex procedures they cannot navigate without help.

Your contribution to BRAC helps overcome these systemic challenges by addressing root causes. We work to change social attitudes through community education campaigns, provide economic support so poverty does not force child marriage, strengthen enforcement through legal aid and prosecution support, keep girls in school through scholarships and support, build community surveillance systems to identify at-risk children, and advocate for policy reforms that close gaps. Every rupee donated moves us toward a system where child marriage becomes impossible and every child gets to remain a child.

5. Solutions: Building a Child-Marriage-Free India
Eliminating child marriage requires a comprehensive strategy addressing prevention, immediate response, survivor support, systemic change, and social transformation. BRAC implements an integrated “Five Pillars of Protection” model based on evidence and experience.

Pillar 1: Prevention and Community Awareness Programs
Preventing marriages before they happen is the most effective approach.

Community Education and Awareness Campaigns:

• Village and Neighborhood Outreach: We conduct intensive awareness campaigns in high-risk areas across West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, and other states using street theater, posters, films, and community meetings to educate people about child marriage harm, legal consequences, and children’s rights.
• School and College Programs: We implement education programs in schools and colleges teaching young people about the importance of completing education, health risks of early marriage and pregnancy, legal rights and protections, gender equality, and how to resist pressure for child marriage.
• Parents and Families Education: We conduct special sessions with parents explaining how child marriage harms their daughters’ health and future, showing successful examples of girls who married later and thrived, explaining legal consequences they face if they marry children, and providing information about support available to keep girls unmarried.
• Girls Empowerment Groups: We create safe spaces where girls meet regularly to learn about their rights, develop confidence to resist child marriage, support each other in staying in school, share information about help available, and plan their futures beyond marriage.
• Religious and Community Leaders Engagement: We partner with respected religious leaders, village elders, and community figures to publicly condemn child marriage, preach messages that all major religions prohibit harming children, use their moral authority to shift attitudes, and support families who keep daughters unmarried.
• Media Partnerships: We work with local media including newspapers, radio, and cable TV to spread awareness messages, share stories of girls who avoided child marriage and succeeded, highlight health risks and legal consequences, and celebrate communities that reject child marriage.

Early Warning and Threat Response Systems:

• Community Reporting Networks: We establish networks where teachers, neighbors, shop owners, and community members can confidentially report planned child marriages, families preparing for weddings involving children, or girls suddenly removed from school.
• Rapid Response Teams: When potential child marriages are reported, our teams immediately verify information and assess risk, contact Child Marriage Prohibition Officers and police, work with families to delay or prevent marriage, help at-risk children access protection, and document cases for legal action if needed.
• School-Based Alert Systems: We train teachers to identify warning signs including girls suddenly stopped from attending school, talk of upcoming weddings, changes in behavior showing distress, or girls saying they will marry soon. Teachers connect at-risk girls with protection services.
• Child-Friendly Reporting Mechanisms: We create simple ways for children themselves to report forced child marriage including helpline numbers they can call, text message systems, trusted adults in communities who will help, and information about how to reach Child Welfare Committees.
• Wedding Venue Monitoring: We work with communities to monitor wedding venues and marriage registration offices, identifying marriages involving children and intervening before ceremonies are completed.

School Retention and Education Support:

• Scholarships and Financial Support: We provide scholarships covering school fees, uniforms, books, and supplies for girls at risk of child marriage due to poverty, removing the financial excuse for taking them out of school.
• Safe Transportation: We arrange safe transportation for girls traveling long distances to school, addressing parental fears about daughters’ safety that sometimes lead to early marriage.
• Residential Education Facilities: For girls from extremely remote areas or dangerous family situations, we support residential schools and hostels where they can continue education in safety away from child marriage pressure.
• Bridge Education Programs: For girls who dropped out, we provide bridge education programs helping them catch up on missed learning and reenter formal schooling, giving them alternatives to child marriage.
• Vocational Training: We provide skills training in marketable trades for older girls, showing families that education leads to good income and better marriage prospects later.

Pillar 2: Immediate Emergency Response and Rescue
When child marriages are happening, rapid response can save children.

24/7 Child Marriage Emergency Helpline:

• Multi-Language Service: Our helpline operates in Hindi, English, Bengali, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, and other regional languages, accessible via phone, WhatsApp, and our website at brac.in.
• Crisis Response: Anyone learning about planned child marriages can call for immediate guidance on stopping marriages, connecting with police and Child Welfare Committees, legal rights and procedures, and keeping children safe.
• Child-Friendly Support: Trained counselors provide immediate support to children facing forced marriage, helping them understand they have rights, connecting them to protective services, and supporting them through intervention processes.
• Family Counseling: We provide immediate counseling to families planning child marriages, explaining harm they will cause, legal consequences they face, support available to keep children unmarried, and alternative solutions to problems driving them toward child marriage.

Emergency Intervention and Rescue:

• Police Coordination: We maintain relationships with police departments, facilitating immediate FIR registration when child marriages are reported, ensuring proper investigation of cases, coordinating rescue operations when children are in immediate danger, and supporting police action against perpetrators.
• Court Intervention: When needed, we file emergency petitions in courts seeking injunction orders stopping planned marriages, protection orders for children at risk, and fast-track hearings for urgent cases.
• Child Welfare Committee Engagement: We coordinate with Child Welfare Committees to place rescued children in safe shelter homes, arrange counseling and support services, involve CWCs in family interventions, and ensure proper legal procedures are followed.
• Safe Shelter Coordination: We maintain networks of safe shelter homes where girls rescued from child marriage situations can stay temporarily, receive counseling and support, continue education, and remain safe while families are counseled or legal action proceeds.
• Family Mediation: In cases where immediate danger has passed, we provide intensive family mediation helping parents understand harm they were about to cause, addressing underlying reasons driving them toward child marriage, connecting families with economic and social support, and getting written commitments that marriage will not proceed.

Legal Support and Protection Orders:

• FIR Registration Support: Our legal team helps families and children file FIRs against perpetrators, ensures all relevant sections of PCMA and BNS are invoked, documents evidence properly, and follows up to ensure investigation proceeds.
• Protection Orders: We help obtain court protection orders preventing families from removing children from school, prohibiting harassment of children who resist marriage, restricting contact between children and those pressuring marriage, and enabling police protection when needed.
• Prosecution Support: We provide legal representation ensuring cases proceed to prosecution, preparing children to testify if needed, presenting evidence effectively, and pursuing appropriate punishment for perpetrators.

Pillar 3: Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Support for Child Marriage Survivors
Children already married need comprehensive support to heal and build futures.

Medical and Reproductive Health Care:

• Emergency Obstetric Care: For child brides who are pregnant, we ensure access to prenatal care that monitors high-risk pregnancies, skilled attendance at delivery to reduce maternal death risk, emergency obstetric services when complications arise, and postnatal care for mothers and babies.
• Family Planning and Birth Spacing: We provide contraception and family planning education helping child brides space pregnancies, prevent pregnancy until bodies are ready, and limit family size to what they can manage.
• Treatment of Reproductive Health Problems: We provide treatment for infections, fistulas, and other reproductive health issues, pain management for chronic conditions, and surgical repair when needed.
• Nutritional Support: We provide nutritional supplements and guidance helping child brides recover from malnutrition, support healthy pregnancies, and feed babies properly.
• General Health Care: We ensure child marriage survivors have access to treatment for illnesses, vaccinations and preventive care, dental and eye care, and management of chronic conditions.

Psychological Healing and Mental Health Support:

• Individual Trauma Counseling: Our trained psychologists provide one-on-one counseling helping survivors process trauma from forced marriage, manage depression and anxiety, develop coping strategies, and build hope for the future.
• Peer Support Groups: We facilitate support groups where child marriage survivors meet regularly, share experiences and feelings, learn from each other’s strength, provide mutual encouragement, and reduce isolation.
• Family Therapy: We work with families to repair damaged relationships, help relatives understand harm caused, develop healthier family dynamics, and support survivors’ healing and development.
• Crisis Intervention: We provide immediate psychological support during crisis periods including pregnancy complications, family conflicts, or times of particular distress when survivors are most vulnerable.

Education Continuation and Literacy:

• School Re-Enrollment: For child brides removed from school, we work to help them re-enroll in formal education, providing support with admission processes, arranging financial support for fees and materials, and coordinating with schools to accommodate their situations.
• Non-Formal Education: For those who cannot return to formal school, we provide non-formal education programs teaching literacy and basic skills, preparing for equivalency exams, and building foundation for further learning.
• Distance Learning: We help child brides access distance education programs allowing them to study at home while managing family responsibilities, providing materials and tutoring support, and helping them complete courses.
• Vocational Training: We provide skills training in marketable trades including tailoring, handicrafts, computer applications, beauty services, food processing, and retail skills that enable economic independence.

Legal Support for Marriage Annulment and Rights:

• Marriage Annulment Assistance: We help child marriage survivors file petitions under Section 3 of PCMA to have marriages declared void, navigate court procedures, present evidence, and obtain legal freedom from forced marriages.
• Custody Rights: For survivors with children, we help establish custody rights, ensure children’s welfare, and protect against in-laws trying to take children away.
• Property and Financial Rights: We help survivors claim any property or financial rights they may have, recover dowry or gifts, and protect assets from in-laws.
• Protection Orders: We obtain court orders protecting survivors from violence and harassment by husbands and in-laws, enabling police protection, and allowing survivors to live safely.

Pillar 4: Economic Empowerment and Livelihood Support
Financial independence is critical for preventing child marriage and helping survivors.

Skills Training and Employment Programs:

• Vocational Skills Training: We provide training in marketable skills including computer applications and digital literacy, tailoring and garment making, handicrafts and jewelry design, beauty and cosmetology services, food processing and catering, retail and customer service, and mobile phone repair and electronics.
• Job Placement Support: We partner with companies committed to hiring women and girls, provide job placement assistance, support workplace integration, and follow up to ensure success.
• Apprenticeship Programs: We arrange apprenticeships where girls learn trades through hands-on experience with established businesses, building skills and confidence while earning modest income.
• Workplace Rights Education: We teach girls about their rights as employees, how to handle discrimination or harassment, and resources for workplace problems.

Entrepreneurship and Self-Employment Support:

• Business Development Training: We provide comprehensive training in business planning and idea development, product development and quality control, marketing and customer relations, pricing and financial management, and business registration and compliance.
• Interest-Free Startup Capital: We provide interest-free seed funding from Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 50,000 helping women and girls start micro-enterprises, purchase equipment and materials, build initial inventory, and establish businesses without debt burden.
• Business Mentoring: We connect women entrepreneurs with experienced mentors who provide ongoing guidance, problem-solving support, connections to markets and suppliers, and encouragement through challenges.
• Cooperative Development: We facilitate women’s cooperatives where members pool resources, share equipment and costs, access markets collectively, support each other’s businesses, and build collective strength.
• Market Linkages: We connect women entrepreneurs to markets for their products including government procurement programs, corporate buyers, online marketplaces, and retail outlets.

Financial Inclusion and Asset Building:

• Bank Account Opening: We help girls and women open bank accounts in their own names, access banking services, build financial literacy, and gain control over their money.
• Savings Groups: We facilitate savings groups where women regularly save small amounts, build financial reserves for emergencies and opportunities, access small loans from group funds, and develop money management skills.
• Insurance Access: We help women obtain health insurance, life insurance, and business insurance protecting against shocks.
• Government Scheme Access: We help families access welfare programs including scholarships for girls, conditional cash transfers for keeping girls unmarried, pension schemes, housing support, and business development programs.

Family Economic Support:

• Livelihood Support for Parents: We provide livelihood support to parents of at-risk girls, helping families become financially stable enough to keep daughters unmarried, reducing economic pressure that drives child marriage, and changing calculations that see daughters as burdens.
• Alternative Income Sources: We help families develop alternative income sources through agricultural support, animal husbandry, small business development, and skills training for parents.

Pillar 5: Legal Reform, Advocacy, and Systemic Change
Long-term elimination requires transforming systems and strengthening accountability.

Legal Aid and Justice Support:

• Free Legal Representation: We provide free lawyers to children facing forced marriage, child marriage survivors seeking annulment, and families wanting to prosecute perpetrators.
• Court Accompaniment: Our staff accompany children and families to all court hearings, provide emotional support, explain procedures, ensure their rights are protected, and help them navigate complex systems.
• Fast-Track Court Petitions: We file petitions requesting fast-track designation for child marriage cases, ensuring swift justice and reducing delays that allow perpetrators to escape consequences.
• Compensation Claims: We help survivors access any compensation available through victim compensation schemes, NALSA legal services, or other programs.

Policy Advocacy and Legislative Reform:

Implementation of Supreme Court Directions: We work to ensure the October 2024 Supreme Court judgment is implemented fully including appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers in every district with proper authority and resources, adequate budget allocation for prevention programs, community-level prevention mechanisms, mandatory reporting systems for planned child marriages, and fast-track prosecution procedures.

• Betrothal Prohibition Amendment: We advocate for amending the PCMA to prohibit betrothal of children separately from marriage, allowing intervention before ceremonies happen, preventing families from making binding engagement promises, and protecting children from being promised in marriage while still young.
• Uniform Civil Code Advocacy: We support efforts to ensure child marriage protection applies equally to all children regardless of religion, that personal laws cannot override child protection statutes, and that the law is clear and uniformly enforced.
• Marriage Registration Reform: We advocate for mandatory marriage registration with strict age verification, penalties for registrars who register child marriages, and systems that flag marriages of children for investigation.
• Birth Registration Universal Coverage: We push for universal birth registration creating permanent record of every child’s age, making age fraud in marriage impossible, and strengthening overall child protection systems.

Government Accountability and Budget Advocacy:

• Budget Analysis and Advocacy: We analyze state budgets for child protection spending, document inadequate allocations for child marriage prevention, present evidence to legislators showing underfunding, and advocate for increased budget allocation.
• Implementation Monitoring: We monitor government implementation of laws and Supreme Court directions, document failures and gaps, file Right to Information requests, and publish report cards on state performance.
• Child Marriage Prohibition Officer Accountability: We track appointment and functioning of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers, document districts where officers have not been appointed, file complaints when officers fail to act, and demand proper training and resources for officers.

Public Interest Litigation:

• Strategic Cases: We file public interest litigation addressing systemic failures in child marriage prevention, seeking court directions for enforcement, challenging government inaction, and establishing legal precedents that strengthen protection.
• Intervention in Important Cases: We intervene in cases before High Courts and the Supreme Court to ensure child protection perspective is represented, provide evidence and research, and support strong judgments that protect children.

National and International Advocacy:

• Policy Dialogue: We engage with the Ministry of Women & Child Development, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights, and other bodies to influence policy and implementation.
• Alliance Building: We build coalitions with other organizations working on child protection, coordinate advocacy strategies, amplify collective voice, and share learning and best practices.
• International Reporting: We contribute to international monitoring including Universal Periodic Review of India’s human rights record, UN Committee on Rights of the Child reviews, and SDG progress reporting, bringing international pressure for action.
• South Asia Regional Cooperation: We collaborate with organizations in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, and other countries sharing the child marriage challenge, learning from successful models, and advocating for regional cooperation.

Data Collection and Research:

• Documentation of Child Marriages: We systematically document child marriages in our operational areas, collect data on prevalence and patterns, identify high-risk communities, and track trends over time.
• Impact Research: We conduct rigorous research on the impact of our programs, measure effectiveness of different interventions, identify what works best in which contexts, and share findings to improve practice.
• Cost-Effectiveness Analysis: We analyze costs per child protected, demonstrate that prevention is cost-effective, and provide evidence for scaling successful approaches.
• Economic Impact Studies: We document the economic harm from child marriage including lost education and productivity, increased health costs, and reduced economic growth, making the economic case for prevention.

6. Societal Impact: The Broad Consequences of Child Marriage

Child marriage causes harm extending far beyond individual children to families, communities, and the entire nation. Understanding these broader impacts shows why eliminating child marriage is essential for India’s development.

Health System Burden and Public Health Crisis
Child marriage creates massive burden on India’s health system.

• Maternal Mortality and Morbidity: Child brides account for disproportionate share of maternal deaths. Their complications from pregnancy and childbirth require expensive emergency care, long hospital stays, and specialized treatment. Research shows child brides have much higher risk of maternal death, creating preventable burden on healthcare facilities.
• Neonatal and Child Mortality: Babies born to child brides have higher death rates requiring neonatal intensive care, treatment for premature birth complications, and management of low birth weight and stunting. Studies show 27,000 additional neonatal deaths, 55,000 additional infant deaths, and 1,60,000 (1.6 lakh) child deaths in 2011 alone were attributable to child marriage.
• Malnutrition Crisis: Child marriage contributes to malnutrition among both mothers and children. Research documents 6.3 million additional underweight women alive as of 2011 because of child marriage, requiring ongoing nutritional interventions and treatment of related conditions.
• Mental Health Burden: The severe depression, anxiety, and trauma experienced by child brides create demand for mental health services in a country with limited mental health infrastructure. Most child brides never receive needed care, continuing to suffer for decades.
• Reproductive Health Problems: The infections, fistulas, and other reproductive health problems from child marriage require specialized treatment. Many women suffer in silence for years before seeking care, if they ever get treatment at all.

Economic Cost to the Nation
Child marriage imposes enormous economic costs on India.

• Reduced GDP Growth: Research by the International Monetary Fund found that reducing child marriage by one standard deviation could increase annual per capita GDP growth by 0.66 percentage points. If child marriage were eliminated completely today, long-term annual per capita growth in emerging and developing countries including India would increase by 1.05 percentage points. This represents billions of dollars in lost economic growth every year.
• Lost Human Capital and Productivity: Women married as children have approximately half the wage rates of women married at age 18 or above, representing massive lost productivity and earning potential. Their lack of education prevents them from filling skilled positions, holding back economic development.
• Household Poverty: Child brides and their families remain trapped in poverty. Their household economic status is significantly poorer compared to women married as adults. This poverty continues across generations as their children also remain poor.
• Healthcare Costs: The health complications from child marriage create costs estimated at billions of rupees annually. These include treatment for maternal complications, care for sick and malnourished children, and management of chronic health problems. Research documents 100 million additional pregnancies occurred because of child marriage, each carrying health risks and costs.
• Lost Education Investment: When girls drop out of school to marry, the investment in their education to that point is wasted. The lost potential from millions of girls never completing education represents enormous loss of human capital that could have contributed to economic growth.

Gender Inequality and Women’s Disempowerment
Child marriage perpetuates and intensifies gender inequality.

• Reinforces Girls’ Low Status: The practice sends clear message that girls are worth less than boys, that their education and dreams do not matter, that they exist to serve families and husbands, and that they have no right to control their own lives. These messages poison gender relations throughout society.
• Economic Dependence: Child brides remain economically dependent on husbands and in-laws throughout their lives, unable to earn income or own assets. This economic powerlessness prevents them from leaving abusive situations and makes them vulnerable to exploitation.
• Political Exclusion: Women married as children show lower rates of political participation, voting, civic engagement, and leadership. Their lack of education and empowerment keeps them from participating in democracy and decision-making about policies that affect them.
• Intergenerational Transmission: Mothers married as children are more likely to marry their own daughters young, continuing the cycle. They lack knowledge and power to make different choices for the next generation.

Education System Impacts
Child marriage undermines education for millions.

• School Dropout Crisis: Child marriage is both cause and effect of girls dropping out of school. When girls drop out, they become available for marriage. When marriage is planned, girls are pulled from school. Research shows that almost 80% of the economic growth impact from child marriage operates through lost education.
• Lower Education Quality: In communities with high child marriage rates, investment in girls’ education remains low. Schools receive less funding, teaching quality is poor, and families see no point in demanding better education for daughters who will just marry young anyway.
• Lost Human Potential: Millions of bright girls with potential to become doctors, engineers, teachers, scientists, and leaders instead become child brides with no opportunity to develop their talents. This loss of human potential affects the entire nation.
• Gender Gap in Education: Child marriage is a major driver of gender gaps in education enrollment and completion. Countries with high child marriage rates show large gaps between boys’ and girls’ education attainment.

Social Stability and Development

Child marriage affects broader social stability and development.

• Demographic Impacts: Child marriage leads to higher fertility rates and population growth. Child brides have more children over their lifetimes, born closer together. This rapid population growth strains resources and makes development harder.
• Violence and Crime: Child brides experience high rates of domestic violence that spills over into communities. Children growing up in violent homes are more likely to become perpetrators themselves, continuing cycles of violence.
• Community Development: Communities with high child marriage rates show lower overall development across all indicators including health, education, income, and infrastructure. Child marriage holds entire communities back from progress.
• Achievement of Development Goals: Child marriage prevents India from achieving its commitments under the Sustainable Development Goals including ending poverty, ensuring quality education, achieving gender equality, and promoting health and well-being. Every child marriage represents failure to meet these goals.

Your donation to BRAC helps address these massive societal costs. Every child we keep unmarried means one more educated woman contributing to the economy, one more family lifted from poverty, one more community moving toward development, and one more step toward the India we all want to see. The investment in preventing child marriage pays returns many times over through better health, stronger economy, gender equality, and social progress.

7. Call to Action: Join BRAC’s Movement to End Child Marriage
Child marriage is preventable. Every child deserves childhood, education, and the chance to build the future they choose. Your support can make this reality for thousands of children across India.

Why Your Support Matters Now

• Crisis Continues: With 4,400 child marriages happening every day in India, children need protection right now. Every day of delay means more childhoods destroyed, more girls’ futures stolen, and more lives damaged permanently. Your donation today creates immediate protection for children at risk.
• Proven Impact: BRAC’s comprehensive approach works. Our programs have protected thousands of children from forced early marriage, helped survivors rebuild their lives, and changed attitudes in communities. Research shows that community dialogue programs reduce child marriage by 67%, educational support increases school attendance by 18%, and economic empowerment cuts risk by half. Your support funds programs with demonstrated results.
• Multiplier Effect: Every child we protect from marriage stays in school longer, earns higher income throughout life, has healthier children, and keeps their own daughters unmarried. The benefits multiply across generations. Research shows the economic benefits of ending child marriage would increase India’s GDP growth by over 1 percentage point annually, representing hundreds of billions of rupees in economic gains.
• Legal Momentum: The Supreme Court’s October 2024 landmark judgment created new opportunities for action. Strong legal framework now exists. What is needed is implementation support, community mobilization, and accountability pressure that your donation funds. This is the moment to turn laws into reality.

Ways to Support

One-Time Donations:
Your one-time gift creates immediate impact.

• ₹2,000 provides emergency intervention stopping one planned child marriage, including rapid response team deployment, family counseling, police coordination, and temporary safe shelter for the child.
• ₹5,000 funds comprehensive awareness campaign reaching 500 people in a high-risk village through street theater, posters, community meetings, and education sessions that shift attitudes and prevent multiple marriages.
• ₹15,000 provides one year of educational support for a girl at risk of child marriage, including school fees, uniforms, books, supplies, transportation, and tutoring that keeps her in school and protected.
• ₹35,000 funds vocational skills training and startup capital for a child marriage survivor, providing her path to economic independence through tailoring, handicrafts, or other enterprise, breaking the cycle of poverty.
• ₹75,000 establishes child marriage prevention system in one village including community watch groups, trained volunteers, reporting mechanisms, and rapid response capacity that protects all children in the community.
• ₹1,50,000 provides comprehensive legal support for 10 child marriage cases including FIR registration, prosecution support, court representation, protection orders, and marriage annulment proceedings that bring perpetrators to justice and free survivors.

Monthly Donations:
Sustained support creates lasting change.

• ₹1,000 monthly keeps one girl in school for the entire year with educational support that prevents child marriage and creates future opportunities.
• ₹3,000 monthly provides ongoing mental health counseling and support groups for 5 child marriage survivors, helping them heal from trauma and rebuild lives.
• ₹5,000 monthly funds one community mobilizer running continuous awareness programs, organizing prevention networks, and coordinating responses in high-risk areas.
• ₹10,000 monthly supports comprehensive prevention and response program in one village including awareness campaigns, educational support, economic empowerment, emergency response capacity, and legal aid.

Volunteer and Engagement Opportunities:
Your time and skills matter as much as financial support.

• Community Awareness Volunteers: Help spread awareness about child marriage harms and legal protections through community education sessions, poster campaigns, social media outreach, and peer education.
• Professional Skills Volunteering: Contribute your expertise as a lawyer providing pro bono legal aid, doctor offering health services to survivors, counselor providing trauma support, teacher offering tutoring, or business mentor supporting women entrepreneurs.

Advocacy and Awareness Building:
Amplify your impact by spreading the word.

• Social Media Advocacy: Share information about child marriage on your social media platforms, educate your networks about the issue, tag BRAC to amplify our messages, and use your voice to demand action.
• Community Education: Organize awareness sessions in your community, workplace, or place of worship, invite BRAC speakers to present, show films about child marriage, and facilitate discussions that shift attitudes.
• Media Engagement: Write articles or letters to editors about child marriage, share survivor stories with permission, highlight enforcement failures, and demand government accountability through media pressure.
• Policy Advocacy: Contact your elected representatives demanding strong enforcement of child marriage laws, adequate budget allocation for prevention programs, appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers, and implementation of Supreme Court directions.

Transparency and Accountability
BRAC operates with complete transparency.

• 85% Program Allocation: At least 85% of every donation goes directly to programs benefiting children and survivors. Only 15% covers essential administration and fundraising costs necessary to operate effectively.
• Annual Reporting: Complete financial reports and program impact data are published annually at brac.in/reports, showing exactly how donations are used and what results are achieved.
• Independent Audits: Our accounts are audited annually by independent chartered accountants ensuring proper fund management and compliance with all legal requirements.
• Donor Communication: We provide regular updates to donors about program activities, impact achieved, challenges faced, and how your specific contribution made a difference.

Tax Benefits
Donations to BRAC qualify for tax benefits under Section 80G of the Income Tax Act. Donors can claim deduction from taxable income, reducing tax liability while supporting children’s protection. We provide official donation receipts within 7 days of receiving contributions, including all information needed for tax filing.

How to Get Started Today
Taking action is simple.

• Donate Online: Visit www.brac.in/donate-now to make secure one-time or monthly donations by credit card, debit card, net banking, or UPI. The process takes less than 2 minutes.
• Bank Transfer: Donate directly to our bank account. Contact us for account details and ensure to share transaction reference for receipt.
• Phone: Call +91 7977386674 to speak with our donor relations team, ask questions, discuss your contribution, and get support with donation process.
• Email: Write to partner@brac.in or info@brac.in with questions, donation commitments, volunteering interest, or partnership proposals.
• Follow BRAC on social media to join the movement to end child marriage.

Every child marriage prevented is a childhood saved, a future protected, and a life given chance to flourish. Your support today creates the India where every child gets to remain a child, complete education, dream big, and choose their own future. Join us in this critical mission. Together, we will end child marriage.

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. What is child marriage?
Child marriage means any marriage where either or both parties are below the legal age. In India, legal marriage age is 21 years for males and 18 years for females under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. Any marriage involving a person below these ages is child marriage regardless of whether families consent, religious practices permit it, or traditional customs accept it.

Q2. How common is child marriage in India?
Child marriage remains widespread despite being illegal. Approximately 23.3% to 25.6% of women aged 20-24 were married before age 18, meaning about one in four women experienced child marriage. India has approximately 222 million women who were married as children, representing one-third of all child brides worldwide. Every minute, 3 girls are married in India, totaling approximately 4,400 child marriages daily. In terms of law enforcement, registered cases under the PCMA surged dramatically from 1,002 cases in 2022 to 6,038 cases in 2023, with Assam alone accounting for 87% of all registered cases.

Q3. What are the main causes of child marriage?
The primary drivers are poverty that makes families see marriage as economic relief, lack of education creating limited opportunities for girls, gender discrimination that devalues girls, traditional attitudes accepting child marriage as normal, honor concerns about daughters’ sexuality, dowry economics that incentivize early marriage, and lack of enforcement of existing laws.

Q4. What are the health consequences of child marriage?
Child brides face severe health risks including maternal death from pregnancy and childbirth before bodies are ready, complications like fistulas and infections requiring specialized care, repeated pregnancies with no recovery time, babies born premature or with low birth weight, malnutrition affecting mother and child, mental health problems including severe depression and trauma, and sexually transmitted infections including HIV.

Q5. Is child marriage illegal in India?
Yes, child marriage is completely illegal throughout India under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006. The law prescribes punishment up to 2 years rigorous imprisonment and fine up to Rs. 1 lakh for adult males who marry children, anyone who performs or facilitates child marriage, and parents or guardians who promote or allow child marriage. All offences under PCMA are cognizable and non-bailable, meaning police can arrest without warrant and courts cannot easily grant bail. Additionally, provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 address related offences including trafficking for marriage (Sections 143-144) and fraudulent marriage ceremonies (Section 83).

Q6. Can a child marriage be cancelled?
Yes, under Section 3 of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, child marriages are voidable. The person who was a child at time of marriage can file petition in court to have the marriage declared void. The petition must be filed before the person turns 20 years of age. Courts can cancel the marriage upon request. Additionally, under Section 12, marriages where children were trafficked, forced, or sold are completely void automatically.

Q7. What should I do if I know about a planned child marriage?
Take immediate action. Call BRAC’s emergency helpline at +91 7977386674 for guidance and support. Report to local police or Child Marriage Prohibition Officer to register complaint. Contact the District Child Protection Unit or Child Welfare Committee for child protection intervention. If you are a teacher, inform school authorities who can coordinate with protection services. Time is critical as intervention is most effective before marriage ceremonies are completed.

Q8. How does BRAC help prevent child marriage?
BRAC implements comprehensive prevention through community awareness campaigns shifting attitudes, educational support keeping girls in school, economic empowerment reducing poverty-driven marriages, emergency response stopping planned marriages, legal aid prosecuting perpetrators and helping survivors, mental health support for trauma healing, vocational training creating livelihood options, and policy advocacy strengthening enforcement.

Q9. Where does BRAC work on child marriage?
BRAC works across high-prevalence states including West Bengal, Bihar, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Assam, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and other areas where child marriage rates exceed national average. Our programs focus on rural and remote communities with highest risk and least access to protection services.

Q10. How can I support BRAC’s work?
You can donate online at www.brac.in/donate-now, make bank transfers, call +91 7977386674 to discuss contributions, volunteer your time and skills, spread awareness through social media and community education, and advocate with government for stronger enforcement. Every form of support helps protect children and create change.

Remember, your support today protects a child tomorrow. Child marriage is preventable, survivors can heal and thrive, and India can become a nation where every child completes childhood. Join BRAC in making this vision reality. Together, we will end child marriage and ensure every child has the chance to build the future they choose.

Disclaimer
This article is written in simple language to be accessible to a general audience and is not a judicial or formal document. For clarity and to keep it short, we sometimes summarize legal provisions rather than citing them in full. While we have tried to ensure accuracy, this article is for general awareness and education only—not legal advice. If you find any error in this article, please email us at info@brac.in with the exact words or sentences that need correction. We welcome feedback to ensure accuracy. Laws may vary across states and are subject to change; readers should seek qualified legal advice for specific cases. The plans and work presented are based on BRAC’s research-driven proposals and illustrative projections. They do not represent outcomes of current or ongoing programs. This model illustrates the scale of impact that could be achieved with your support and regular donations. Actual results may differ depending on available resources, external conditions, and program execution. With your donation, these projections can move from vision to reality. Donate now by visiting our Donate Now page and choosing the cause that matters most to you.

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