Jharkhand fares ‘worst’ when it comes to girl child marriage

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Infamous for witchcraft killings, Jharkhand has earned the disrepute of having the highest percentage of underage girls getting married, according to the latest demographic sample survey by the union home ministry.

The percentage of girls getting married before attaining majority is as high as 5.8 in Jharkhand, according to the survey brought out by the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, Ministry of Home Affairs. "The percentage of females who got effectively married before reaching 18 years of age is 1.9 at the national level and varies from 0.0 in Kerala to 5.8 in Jharkhand," the survey said.

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In Jharkhand, child marriages accounted for 7.3 per cent of marriages in rural areas and three per cent in urban areas, it said. These were the findings of Sample Registration System Statistical Report. The survey was conducted in 2020 and the report was published late last month.

Jharkhand and West Bengal are the only two states in the country where more than half of the women are married before attaining the age of 21 years. The survey said that while 54.9 per cent of girls are married in West Bengal before attaining the age of 21 years, the figure for Jharkhand is 54.6 per cent as against the national average of 29.5 per cent.

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