In 34 months, 1,448 females under the age of 18 gave birth in Tirunelveli, according to RTI data
In the 34 months between January 2021 and October 2023, the Tirunelveli district had 1,448 births by females under the age of 18, according to an RTI reply that health activist A Veronica Mary requested.
Mary demanded that the state government step up its campaigns against child marriage and incorporate sex education and the negative effects of early pregnancy into school textbooks. She said that 1,101 of the 1,448 deliveries occurred in Primary Health Centers (PHCs) spread across 10 blocks of this district’s rural and urban areas. In the specified months, there were 347 child births at the Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital. Melapalayam urban PHC had the most deliveries (88), followed by Manur rural PHC (44).
The activist went on to say that one of the main causes of child marriage in both rural and urban regions was female school dropout. “Many girls elope with males or young people when their parents decide to marry them off after they drop out of school. They experience sexual abuse after marriage, which is illegal under the Pocso Act. Following an increase in comparable occurrences, the state government got a go-ahead in 2012 to start mobile vehicle units to educate kids about sexual offenses. In 2022, I filed an application for the execution of this order to the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court. Nevertheless, the GO has not yet been put into effect notwithstanding the order. According to her, the majority of schoolchildren are not even aware that the hotline number is 1098.
The Representational Image
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K Thanalakshmi, the district social welfare officer for Tirunelveli, informed TNIE that the department was already actively working to dissuade child marriage in schools.
“Love weddings are more prevalent than planned marriages in the region, and sometimes the issue is only brought to our attention after the female child becomes pregnant. We are trying to avoid child marriages by gathering information on children who have dropped out of school and bringing them back, with the assistance of the district administration,” the speaker said.
According to police sources, charges are being filed in relation to every instance of child pregnancy that occurs in the Tirunelveli district. “The number of instances seems to be large since, in contrast to the past, all child pregnancy cases are being recorded by the PHCs in question and reported to the police and social welfare authorities. Additionally, incidences of “elope and marry” account for 99 percent of child pregnancy cases. However, police officers have been teaching Pocso awareness programs in all of the district’s schools,” the sources said.
