“We cannot do anything about arranged child marriages, as we do not ever receive formal complaints from anyone. But we regularly receive complaints of minor girls eloping. In these instances, we register rape cases and deal with them in accordance with the law,” says Manjunath, Kanakapur Circle police inspector.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 has obviously not been able to curb the prevalence of early wedlock in rural India. In Kanakapura and villages around this taluk, age-old social dynamics play a huge role in perpetuating the evil practice. Ironically, parents here are neither uneducated nor poor.
Anil Gummanhalli, physical training teacher in Uyyamballi high school, explains the phenomenon thus: “The Gowdas, who are farmers, constitute the majority in the region but Scheduled Castes also form a sizeable portion of the population. Interaction between the two communities in schools is very common. Therefore, many inter-caste marriages take place in the region. So parents fear that once their girls enter a pre-university college, they might fall in love and elope with lower caste boys. Hence the hurry to marry them off.”
According to official figures, Gowdas constitute 40 per cent while Scheduled Castes account for 20 per cent of the population of this region. Another upper caste, Lingayats, are about 10 per cent.
According to social welfare department records, 15 inter-caste marriages took place in Kankapura taluk during 2008-09. “This is the official figure. The numbers are much higher in reality. Usually when a girl elopes with a lower caste boy the marriage isn’t registered officially. Sometimes the parents go in for a quiet settlement and close the issue, before it becomes an embarrassment for the family,” explains an employee of the sub-registrar office, Kanakapur.
Naveen, a first year PU (commerce) student, who helped us find Kavya’s house, revealed that Asha, one of his classmates from the Gowda community, also got married while she was in 10th standard. To dig out more details, we visited SC-majority Chunchi. Two SC boys here have married upper caste girls. We could not meet them as they were away in Bangalore looking for work. But we had a chat with Basavaraju, a local resident, and asked him about inter-caste marriages. He is aware of the government scheme under which an inter-caste couple receives a payment of Rs 50,000. He asks: “How can we ever hope to woo and marry upper caste girls if their parents insist on marrying them off before they are 15 or 16?"
Mallegowda, a farmer in Eligahalli, told us rather nonchalantly that he had his two daughters married when they were studying in 8th and 9th standards respectively. “We received good proposals and decided to go ahead. Now both the girls are leading happy lives,” he claims.
As these girls have their education cut short by the whims of their parents, neither the law nor social activists have been able to do much to prevent the practice. The social menace is spreading very fast. The story of Kavya is an exception rather than the rule.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 has obviously not been able to curb the prevalence of early wedlock in rural India. In Kanakapura and villages around this taluk, age-old social dynamics play a huge role in perpetuating the evil practice. Ironically, parents here are neither uneducated nor poor.
Anil Gummanhalli, physical training teacher in Uyyamballi high school, explains the phenomenon thus: “The Gowdas, who are farmers, constitute the majority in the region but Scheduled Castes also form a sizeable portion of the population. Interaction between the two communities in schools is very common. Therefore, many inter-caste marriages take place in the region. So parents fear that once their girls enter a pre-university college, they might fall in love and elope with lower caste boys. Hence the hurry to marry them off.”
According to official figures, Gowdas constitute 40 per cent while Scheduled Castes account for 20 per cent of the population of this region. Another upper caste, Lingayats, are about 10 per cent.
According to social welfare department records, 15 inter-caste marriages took place in Kankapura taluk during 2008-09. “This is the official figure. The numbers are much higher in reality. Usually when a girl elopes with a lower caste boy the marriage isn’t registered officially. Sometimes the parents go in for a quiet settlement and close the issue, before it becomes an embarrassment for the family,” explains an employee of the sub-registrar office, Kanakapur.
Naveen, a first year PU (commerce) student, who helped us find Kavya’s house, revealed that Asha, one of his classmates from the Gowda community, also got married while she was in 10th standard. To dig out more details, we visited SC-majority Chunchi. Two SC boys here have married upper caste girls. We could not meet them as they were away in Bangalore looking for work. But we had a chat with Basavaraju, a local resident, and asked him about inter-caste marriages. He is aware of the government scheme under which an inter-caste couple receives a payment of Rs 50,000. He asks: “How can we ever hope to woo and marry upper caste girls if their parents insist on marrying them off before they are 15 or 16?"
Mallegowda, a farmer in Eligahalli, told us rather nonchalantly that he had his two daughters married when they were studying in 8th and 9th standards respectively. “We received good proposals and decided to go ahead. Now both the girls are leading happy lives,” he claims.
As these girls have their education cut short by the whims of their parents, neither the law nor social activists have been able to do much to prevent the practice. The social menace is spreading very fast. The story of Kavya is an exception rather than the rule.
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