Hyderabad: Covid crisis sparks spike in child marriages in Old City

In this one year of pandemic, nearly 250 child marriages took place in the Old City. Of them, more than 100 marriages took place just in 20-odd slums in Talab Katta and its surroundings areas with a maximum number being in Hassan Nagar and other urban slums," said Jameela Nishat, Founder and Director of Shaheen Women Resource and Welfare Association

Hyderabad: The Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the lives of all, especially the young girls, who are forced into child marriages due to poverty. The number of child marriages has gone up alarmingly during the pandemic time and experts claim that the pandemic-induced lockdowns have reversed the decades of progress made for eradicating the social evil.

Though the Indian government banned child marriages under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, the social malady continues to prevail among various communities, especially in rural areas and urban slums were marriages are conducted secretly.

According to experts, the lockdown has terribly affected the underprivileged families and children with many young girls falling prey to child marriages. "In this one year of pandemic, as many as 250 child marriages took place in the Old City of Hyderabad.

Of them, more than 100 marriages took place just in 20-odd slums in Talab Katta and its surroundings areas with a maximum number being in Hassan Nagar and other urban slums," said Jameela Nishat, Founder and Director of Shaheen Women Resource and Welfare Association.

Jameela, who has been working with the slum dwellers since 2004, added that during the pandemic, many families lost their livelihoods and were forced to consider marriage of their minor children to alleviate poverty.

"With an increasing number of families falling into poverty, many girls in the poor households have become the victims of child marriages," she said, adding that child marriages do not always take place in public and are done secretively with not even a whiff of suspicion to the neighbours.

Most of the marriages took place in Talabkatta, Aman Nagar, Hafez Baba Nagar, Shaheen Nagar, Vattepally, Teegalkunta, Barkas and Hassan Nagar. "We have stopped 200 child marriages in the last one year from these slums. According to a survey conducted among 1,000 families of 20 slums in Old City, it was found that 250 minor girls got married. She said the survey was only in 20 slums. However, at least 1,000 minor girls got married in the city that have gone unreported." According to the data provided by the Women Development and Child Welfare Department, Telangana, 1,355 cases of child marriages were averted from April 2020 to March 2021.