More than 40% child marriages in Theni, records NGO survey

Despite laws and interventions child marriage is an unfortunate reality . In an alarming revelation a survey shows that at least 43% marriages in Theni district are child marriages.
The survey, conducted from January 2014-2015 by an NGO, Theni Mavatta Pengal Iyakkam covering 610 families in 100 villages, was released at a conference held in the city to discuss strategies to prevent this social menace.
The secretary of the NGO, Sundarambal B recounts her own experience as a victim of child marriage. "I had just finished Class 10 exams when I was married off to a 28-year-old man who was also my cousin," says Sundarambal. "I wasn't mature to bring up my two children and my son had several skin and hair ailments because we married within the family." Sundarambal who has been working to stop child marriages for the past 12 years in Theni had gone through a dark phase when she attempted suicide with her children, which she uses as a lesson for others.

Despite growing awareness and intervention by police and NGOs, activists say the practice is rampant in districts like Theni, Salem, Virudhunagar, Krishnagiri and Dharmapuri. "Andipatti and Kadamalaikundu in Theni are infamous for child marriages," says M Jeevanantham director of Society for Integrated Rural Development, a Madurai-based NGO. Child rights organisations have formed a panel that will take up similar surveys in 11 other districts including Cuddalore, Kancheepuram and Chennai.
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