Immediate notification
On receiving information, notifying the District Child Protection Officer, District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police without delay.
Child Marriage · Litigation
Child Rights
Preventing child marriage through immediate notification of the authorities, and litigating the non-implementation of laws meant to prohibit it.
Context
Why this work exists.
When information about a child marriage is received, the organisation immediately notifies the District Child Protection Officer, the District Magistrate and the Superintendent of Police regarding the marriage arrangements. Parents of the accused are required to sign bond papers committing not to conduct the marriage.
Prevention at the individual level is not sufficient on its own. A Public Interest Litigation — Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action v. Union of India and Ors — is pending in the Supreme Court of India addressing the non-implementation of legislation prohibiting and penalising child marriage. We prepared a fact-finding ground report to support the petition.
How we work
What the programme actually does.
Bond papers
Parents of the accused are required to sign bond papers committing not to conduct the marriage.
Strategic litigation
Supporting the pending Supreme Court PIL with a fact-finding ground report, seeking directions and a writ of mandamus requiring state authorities to implement the law.
Outcomes
What a closed case looks like.
- Individual marriages prevented through immediate administrative notification
- Officials held responsible for failures to prevent child marriages in their jurisdictions
- Evidence supplied to the Supreme Court through a fact-finding ground report
Legal basis
The law we work under.
- Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986
- Society for Enlightenment and Voluntary Action v. Union of India and Ors (pending, Supreme Court of India)
Questions
Frequently asked.
What happens when a child marriage is reported?+
The organisation immediately notifies the District Child Protection Officer, District Magistrate and Superintendent of Police. Parents of the accused are required to sign bond papers committing not to conduct the marriage.
What does the Supreme Court petition seek?+
Direction to state authorities to implement the relevant legislation, a writ of mandamus requiring them to do so, and that government officials be held responsible for failing to prevent child marriages in their jurisdictions.
Related
Other areas of our work.
Bonded Labour
Identification, case registration, rescue and statutory rehabilitation of workers held in debt bondage — a practice outlawed in India since 1976.
Read moreWorker’s Housing Rights
Advocacy and rehabilitation for unorganised-sector workers, migrant labourers, bonded labourers, trafficking survivors and homeless destitute labourers denied adequate housing.
Read moreGig Workers
Mobilisation, advocacy, capacity building and legal aid for platform-based workers left in regulatory limbo by India’s labour codes.
Read moreBring us a case, or fund the next one.
Reports can be anonymous. Every case above began with someone deciding to speak.