Child marriage is still taking place in Dhanusha despite the provision of marriage under the age of 20 in Nepal's law. When a boy and a girl get married before the age of 20, such marriages are legally automatic and even punishable.
Dhanusha police has launched a special campaign to stop child marriage as the number of child marriages has increased. According to Jitendra Kumar Basnet, Deputy Superintendent of Police, District Police Office, Dhanusha, nine child marriages have been stopped in Dhanusha during the last one and a half months.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Basnet said that the campaign was launched to stop child marriage as the trend of marrying children has increased. He said that he has been running a campaign to stop child marriage along with public awareness program on child marriage as a legal crime against parents.
"Under the Community-Police Partnership Program, we will immediately stop child marriages if we get information about child marriages in the villages along with the interaction," said Deputy Superintendent of Police Basnet. He said that nine child marriages were stopped in the district last January. "We will get there after getting the information that child marriage is taking place," he said.
Although some parents take it easy when the police stop child marriage, most of them have expressed their frustration and anxiety. Vijay Mandal, a resident of Bideha Municipality-6, Dhanusha, said, "The girl's side decides the marriage based on the good boy and the house." Many do not know about the legal system, some do not care even if they know, he said.
Due to lack of knowledge of legal matters, parents are embarrassed when the marriage is stopped at the end of a public gathering. Most of the parents say that they are trying to get their daughter married at an early age because they are not aware that they have to reach the age of 20 to get married.
According to the intellectual, some parents are marrying children before reaching the age of majority as they do not know that child marriage is a legal crime and child marriage should be punished. "Even though Nepal's law prohibits marriage under the age of 20, child marriage is still taking place," said Sijendra Sada, an intellectual and Dalit leader. It has grown. ”
"For the last few years, we have been conducting awareness programs among parents and children about the impact of child marriage in villages and schools and its ill effects on women," said Sada, a Dalit leader.
He says that there is a problem when the society recognizes early marriages easily. Child marriage is a legal crime. There are various programs in schools to raise public awareness against child marriage but it has not been stopped. Advocate Doman Sah informed that child marriage should not be allowed in Article 1, 2 and 3 of Article 173 of Article 11 of the National Criminal Code-2074 BS.
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