Officials told to prevent child marriages

Anantapur: A meeting on prevention of child marriages organised on the ICDS premises on Friday. Speaking on the occasion, V Gandhi Babu, member of the Andhra Pradesh State Commission for Protection of Child Rights called for formation of committees at the village-level to tackle child marriages.

The act should be strictly implemented by the government representatives working at the village-level like the Village Revenue Officers. AP Women’s Commission member Parveen Bhanu observed that the woes of women start with marriages and it is more so when marriages are performed to minor boys and girls.

She opined that the body under 18 years would not be fully developed and that the age is not conducive for conception. That is resulting in mother-child deaths, she bemoaned. State Children Welfare Committee chairman N Rajeshwari stated that the priests preventing child marriages are being threatened of dire consequences if they came in the way of child marriages. She suggested that they be given government identity cards to check the menace.