New Delhi: In what highlights the regressive approach that still exists in the Indian society, a five-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy were today married off by their families in Rajasthan's Chittorgarh, drawing Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje under the scanner.
Another child-marriage of a 11-year-old girl with a 15-year-old boy took place in the same district today.
The unfortunate incident has drawn severe criticism nationwide and has put the rule of Vasundhara Raje in question.
Demanding strict laws to be implemented to stop such practices, Former National for Commission (NCW) member Shamina Shafiq, said, "No matter how stringent rules are made in the country, if they are not implemented then these kinds of unwarranted incidents will keep taking place."
"The parents think it is their right to get their children married and all those who marry in early age also think the same. So, till the time we don't make them aware and don't produce the fear of law among them that child marriages are prohibited such these things will keep on happening. Why it is that these students are not being told about their rights in the schools be it private or government? What do the schools wait for?" she asked.
A total of six child-marriages have been conducted in Chittorgarh over last two days in spite of it coming under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006.
