A recent district-level review meeting has revealed shocking data on child welfare issues in Vellore, with officials reporting 415 teenage girls giving birth and 59 child marriages occurring within the last 10 months.
The meeting, convened by the Vellore District Child Welfare and Protection Committee at the Collectorate, brought together officials from health, police, and social welfare departments to address the crisis. The figures point to a severe and ongoing challenge of child marriage and sexual abuse in the region.
Breakdown of the Data
The health department’s statistics highlighted that 415 deliveries were recorded for teenage mothers over the past ten months. A particularly high concentration was noted in the hilly Anaikattu area, which alone accounted for 92 of these teenage births.
Simultaneously, the Social Welfare Department reported 59 instances of child marriage in the same period. While authorities successfully intervened and stopped 8 of these marriages, 51 cases have been formally registered.
Link to POCSO Cases and Law Enforcement Response
The Vellore District Police provided further context, disclosing that 201 cases under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act were registered between January and September of the current year. This suggests a direct correlation between the high rate of teenage pregnancies and incidents of sexual abuse.
The primary objective of the review meeting was to strategize on reducing child marriage and sexual abuse. In response to the alarming data, officials have decided to intensify awareness campaigns. These programs will specifically target schools and villages in hilly areas to educate communities about the legal age of marriage – 18 for women and 21 for men – and the consequences of violating these laws.
The prevalence of these practices is often attributed to deep-rooted issues such as poverty, which leads families to withdraw girls from school and marry them off, often to much older men. There are also concerns that many such marriages may have gone unreported during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns.
(Source: OneIndia Tamil)
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