Crusade against social evil
Rajesh Kumar Aggarwal

Child Marriage in South Asia: Brutal Murder of Innocence
by Shobha Saxena. Regal Publications,
New Delhi. Pages 190. Rs 550.

The concept of age at marriage has long been of interest to demographers due to its vicinity with fertility behaviour. The female age is considered to be one factor that directly determines the length of reproductive span and influences the status of women. It has already been established by some earlier studies that early marriages generally result in a shorter inter-generational interval, long childbearing period, high cumulative fertility and rapid population growth, besides curtailing the lactation and child replacement effect, lowering the usage of contraception and resulting in high infant and maternal mortality and morbidity. The consequences and impact of child marriages are devastating. These practices not only result in violation of fundamental human rights but also causes greater physical traumas, psychological depression and emotional disturbance to child brides.

The book sensitise the reader with the problem of child marriages in all SAARC countries comprising of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It points out that except Sri Lanka, a large number of children in almost all SAARC countries are married at an early age, despite the fact that most of these countries have laws declaring 18 years to be the minimum age at marriage (except Afghanistan and Pakistan where the girl’s legal age at marriage is still 16 years) and spots some interesting facts pertaining to the prevalent marriage practices, social norms, cultural traditions, myths and convictions, economic factors, legislative efforts, national and customary laws governing these practices besides highlighting a few efforts by NGOs and civil society to curb these practices in these countries.

For each of the SAARC country, the book describes the attitude towards early marriages, the consequences of such marriages, provisions related to educational and medical services, government initiatives towards prevention of earlier marriages, and the existing gaps and challenges and measures needed to tackle the situation.

The book rightly points out that child marriages contribute to increased maternal mortality rates and infant mortality rates but linking high prevalence of HIV/AIDS to child marriages seems slightly unfair since it is well known how many women, even if they are grown-up and aware, can rightfully ask their husbands to use the condoms, and deny sex in case of their refusal to do so in these countries.

No doubt there is dearth of information on aspects dealt in the book. Probably, as a result, the book draws largely from websites, television coverage and newspaper reports which are often biased. It would have been an advantage for the author to consider some of the more authenticated publications, including some plan documents, research reports, and other publications on child marriages in these countries.

Since it is a topic where multi-disciplinary approach is required, the author could not do justice with the recommendations. The remedies suggested in the book are too bleak and need to be re-focused differently for different socio-economic groups since practices related to age at marriage differ significantly among the households across different castes, religions, landholding status, place of residence, education and the standard of living.

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