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Feature Maternal Health

India’s crackdown on child marriage has endangered women’s health

BMJ 2023; 381 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.p1022 (Published 01 June 2023) Cite this as: BMJ 2023;381:p1022
  1. Aatreyee Dhar, freelance journalist
  1. Dispur, India
  1. aatreyee.dhar56{at}gmail.com

India made the longstanding practice of child marriage illegal, but this has left female health workers and social activists struggling to convince teens to attend pregnancy check-ups. Aatreyee Dhar reports

Fatima (name changed), 16, didn’t set out to marry while she was still in high school. Her religious parents had worried about her being one of the prettiest girls in their village in the Barpeta district of Assam. The way they saw it, Fatima marrying would prevent many men from courting her. So, when a marriage proposal arrived from a distant cousin, Fatima wed.

A year later, on 3 February 2023, the Assam government launched a crackdown on child marriage across the state, arresting over 4000 people under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act 2012 and the Prevention of Child Marriages Act (PCMA) 2006.1 According to Indian law, a marriage in which either partner is under 18 is considered a child marriage. POCSO criminalises anyone guilty of a sexual act with a child under 18 with a maximum prison sentence of five years. Under PCMA, a man found to have married a child can be sentenced to a maximum of two years in prison.

Fatima’s name was on a government list that flags pregnant teenagers at high risk of birth complications based on their shorter height and younger age. Because of this, Fatima’s husband and in-laws blocked her from visiting a nearby centre for an ultrasonography check-up.

Around the time The BMJ interviewed Fatima—in April this year; she was still pregnant, a month after her due date—news reports were circulating about the death of a 16 year old after …

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