In what has come as an exhilarating move to many, a total of 40 child marriages were averted with the intervention of elected local representatives in the last two years in some districts of Province-2.
Surendra Kamati : Centre for Investigative Journalism-Nepal
These representatives’ endeavor has received all-out support from the Province-2 government and the police for their proactive campaign. Pratham Lal Chaudhary, ward chair of Lahan-17 succeeded in averting the marriage of 14-year-old Shraddha Ram of Lahan Municipality-13 by convincing her parents that that child marriage was illegal in Nepal.
Province-2 Chief Minister Lalbabu Raut distributing bicycles to Grade 8 girls of Saraswoti Janata School, Mahottari.
Upon hearing that Shraddha’s marriage was scheduled for December 1, 2018, Chaudhary approached her family, convinced them to postpone the marriage of their 14-year-old daughter.
This was not Chaudhary’s first intervention. He had earlier succeeded in foiling the marriage of 15-year-old Anjali, daughter of Surya Narayan Sah of the same municipality, with Manoj Sah of Sanhaitha of Siraha Municipality-19 on July 3, 2019 at the last minute.
Likewise, soon after getting elected as the Ward Chair of Lahan Municipality-13, Ishwor Basnet succeeded in averting three child marriages in his ward by intervening with a positive precept. Basnet prevented child marriages of 17-year old Shristi, daughter of Satya Narayan Ram; 16-year-old Bandana, daughter of Chulai Paswan; and 17-year-old Shiva Shakti, daughter of Fulo Paswan.
Raju Shrestha, ward chairperson of the Dhangadhimai Municipality of Siraha, too, took the initiative to avert a couple of child marriages in his ward. Shrestha succeeded in preventing the marriage of 15-year-old Alisha Baral of ward-12 in Magh 16, 2075 BS scheduled to be held at Ghaighat of Udayapur.
Likewise, his intervention succeeded to avert the marriage of a 14-year-old girl, Laxmi Shrestha of Ghaighat scheduled for December 5, 2018. That was not all. The marriage of Sabita Kumari Kamati of ward-13 arranged for January 25, 2019, was also averted in Shrestha’s initiatives.
According to the Muluki Dewani (Code) Act 2074, a boy or a girl has to be 20 years for marriage. However, despite the legal binding, child marriages still prevail in the country. These are some of the incidences of the initiatives taken by the elected representatives in the eastern Terai.
Madhu Sudan Yadav, former Campus Chief of Surya Narayan Satya Narayan Morbaita Yadav Multiple Campus, appreciates the initiatives of the elected representatives in discouraging and averting child marriages in Siraha district. “It’s, in fact, an admirable act that the elected representatives are taking the initiatives to implement the law, especially when it comes to discouraging child marriages. Ward chairpersons’ initiatives to discourage child marriages are commendable,” says Yadav.
Consider what Uma Prasad Chaturvedi, Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Siraha has to say: “Around 40 child marriages have been averted in the past two years in the district.”
He attributes this to the efforts of the elected representatives. “They (elected representatives) succeeded in averting five child marriages between 26-29 Magh, 2076 in various parts of the district,” he recalls.
It was due to their intrusion that the elected representatives averted the marriages of Rijhan Mukhiya’s 16-year-old daughter Ranju Kumari of Karjanha Municipality-6; Shree Ram Kapaur’s 17-year-old daughter Sangita of Mirchaiya; and Ram Naresh Majhi’s 17-year-old daughter Ganita of Kalyanpur Municipality-1.
Similarly, marriages planned for February 12 of Suresh Kumar Mahara, 18, of Mirchaiya Municipality-1 and Rinku Mahara, 17, of Golbazar Municipality-10, were also averted by the initiatives of ward chairpersons.
Likewise, the marriage of Bauhara Mandal’s 17-year-old daughter Sabita Kumari Mandal scheduled for February 9 was averted by the initiatives of the elected representatives.
The marriage scheduled for February 21, 2020 of Puja Das, the 17-year-old daughter of Ram Sewak Das of Aurahi Rural Municipality-5, was also averted. Likewise, the elected representatives prevented the child marriage of Rita Kumari Mahara, the 15-year-old daughter of Prakash Mahara of Gurudham of Golbazar Municipality-2, scheduled for February 26, 2019.
“I would rather call this move as an encouraging initiative on the part of the elected representatives. This positive move will encourage children to pursue further studies,” says Soma Gupta, teacher of Bajra Mohan Jhabbu Ram High School, Madar.
Child marriage-free zone
Local elected representatives of Saptari district adjoining the Siraha district have joined hands to declare their areas as ‘child-friendly’ by discouraging child marriages.
The Kanchanpur-Rupnagar Municipality of Saptari district has declared the municipality as ‘child-friendly’ municipality on September 6, 2019. The then Minister for Federal Affairs and General Administration Lal Babu Pandit had declared the municipality as ‘child-friendly’ municipality.
Mayor of the municipality, Basanta Kumar Misra claims child marriage has been completely dissuaded in the municipality after the declaration of ‘child-friendly’ municipality. “After the declaration of the child-friendly municipality, we have laid our emphasis on educating our children up to the bachelor’s (college graduate) level,” he says, adding, “This has helped us to stop child marriages.”
According to him, Kanchanpur-Rupnagar Municipality has been the country’s third and the first in Province-2 to declare a child-friendly municipality. The municipality had listed 39 indicators to declare it as a child-friendly municipality. One among them is ‘child-marriage free’ municipality.
Siraha’s Surunga Municipality also decided to declare it as a ‘child-marriage-free municipality. Mayor Mukti Chaudhary informs that it has formulated a policy that requires the parents to acquire the consent of the ward office for the marriage of their children. Says Chaudhary, “We have a target to declare the municipality as child-friendly in 2020. We will then work towards declaring it as a child-marriage free municipality.”
Six, out of the 11 wards of Surunga, including wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 have declared themselves as child-marriage free wards. Chair of Surunga ward-4 Devendra Prasad Chaudhary boasts, “Mine is a child-marriage free ward.”
The Constitution of Nepal 2015 has termed children’s right as a fundamental right. Article 39 (4) of the Constitution says, “No child shall be subjected to child marriage, illegal trafficking, kidnapping, or being held hostage.” Meanwhile, the National Criminal Code Act, 2017 (Muluki Aparadh Sanghita Ain – 2074) Article 173 states: “No person can get married unless he/she has attained twenty years of age.” Any such act will be considered punishable according to the law. The Code states that punishment for child marriage is imprisonment for up to three years and a fine up to Rs 30 thousand or both. However, due to the feeble implementation of the legal provision, child marriages are common in the country.
A report on ‘The State of the World’s Children 2016’ published by UNICEF states that 37 percent of the girls in Nepal get married before the age of 18, while 10 percent of the girls get married before the age of 15 years. Likewise, another report published by UNICEF in 2019 has enlisted Nepal as the 10th country in child marriage.
Federal Affairs and General Administration Minister Lalbabu Pandit declaring Kanchanpur Rupnagar municipality as child friendly.
Likewise, in its report “It’s Time to Sing and Play”, on September 8, 2016, Human Rights Watch, an organization working in human rights sector, had publicized a report saying that 37 percent of girls in Nepal get married below the age of 18 years, and 10 percent are married by age 15. It should be noted that the minimum age of marriage under Nepali law is 20 years of age.
All these facts have encouraged the elected local representatives to join hands against child marriage. Says Ram Yatan Yadav, former Chairperson of Nepal Bar Association of Siraha, “Child marriage was illegal earlier as well. However, campaigns against social anomalies, including child marriage has gained momentum and are effective after the election of the local representatives.”
In what can be termed as commendable, the Province-2 government launched the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhau” campaign — a drive against dowry system and child marriage that has become effective in the province. The Province-2 Government began the campaign since January 15, 2019 – an insurance scheme that every newly born girl will be insured to encourage girl education up to 12th grade. The girls will receive the insurance amount of Rs 300,000 in a lump sum after they get married after the age of 20 years.
State Minister for Industry, Forest, Tourism, and Environment of Province 2, Suresh Kumar Mandal claims the compulsory provision to educate girls till 12th grade and marriage after 20 years of age will minimize child marriage and help in increasing the literacy rate of girl students in the Province. “The program has been launched considering the overall development, including social security, education, and health of a girl. This is a package that would discourage and end dowry system, child marriage, violence against women and killing of a fetus,” says Mandal.
Insurance camps have been organized in all eight districts of Province-2 in a bid to popularize the “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhau” campaign from January 16, 2020. Coordinator of the drive, Priyanka Yadav says a total of 24,991 girls have been insured in the program launched until February 26, 2020. Likewise, besides insurance, the Province-2 government has distributed bicycles to girls of Grade Eight to encourage them in studies.
The initiatives taken by the elected representatives of the local levels and the Provincial government to discourage child marriages have shown positive results because of which girls whose marriages have been averted have rejoined the schools. One among them is Mina Ram, 14, of Lahan-13. She is studying in Grade six.
Daughter of Doma Rain of Golbazar Municipality-9, Gobindapur, thirteen-year-old Salma Khatun, whose marriage was averted in October 2018, is another such example. She, too, studies in Grade six at the Janata High School at Dandatol. She was a Grade 5th student when her parents had arranged her marriage.
Fifteen-year-old Anjali Ram of Lahan Municipality-17 also has a similar story. Her marriage, which was scheduled for December 1, 2019 was prevented at the initiative of elected representatives. Since then, she, currently in sixth grade, has been focusing on her studies at the Gobindapur-based Madhyamik Vidhyalaya.
Says Ram Kishor Yadav, a local of Siraha’s Bariyapatti rural municipality, “Positive changes can be experienced if elected representatives initiated campaigns by identifying the existing problems.” He adds, “Some elected representatives of Siraha and Saptari are glaring examples.”
