Ruined childhoods

It is certainly a failing on the implementation part of a law, where despite of the presence of strict legislation marking an act as a cognisable offence, it remains a common practice. Child marriage is one such crime that is vastly underreported due to the lack of implementation of the law in Sindh, particularly in districts that constitute for the highest number of child marriages, such as, Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad and Larkana.

Though the provincial assembly passed the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act 2013, the province still has the custom of underage marriage widely in practice. A recent review of the act launched by the lawyers and civil society identified that not just the victims, but police are also unaware of the existence of the law under which people solemnising a child marriage can be arrested and convicted.

Spreading awareness about the law and the social and psychological detriments of a child marriage are imperative to the effective implementation of the law, which has unfortunately been ignored by the Sindh government. Four years after the passing of the law, only 51 cases had been registered with the police.

Marriage below the legalised age of 18, does not only devoid an individual of the necessary physical and mental phase of development, but also leads to countless health complications among girls. Child marriages are primarily a dilemma of underdeveloped societies, where poverty-stricken households, in a bid to lessen the burden of the female child’s upbringing, marry them off before time. But early marriage only adds to the spiral of poverty, health deficiencies, malnourishment and untimely deaths.

Deeply rooted in culture, the menace of child marriage is an outgrowth of illiteracy, poverty, feudalism and violent culture towards women. Hence, enforcement of the law requires pragmatic steps to be taken immediately.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 18^th, 2017.

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