Mandya: On one hand the State Government has been taking a stringent action against child marriages and minors becoming pregnant, but on the other hand in Mandya popular as ‘Sugar Town’, there has been a surge in such cases, which has become a cause for grave concern.

By prohibiting the marriage of girls aged below 18 years, the Government has taken tough measures to prevent child marriages from happening.

Awareness is also being created against such practices, but it has failed to yield desired results, with 147 complaints of child marriages received by Women and Child Welfare Department, 62 cases registered and 85 child marriages prevented in 11 months from January 2023 to this date. But what is more worrying is, of the total 12,220 pregnant women recorded in the district so far this year, 43 are minors including three girls in the age group of 15 years, 10 in the age group of 16 years and 30 minors aged 17 years.

Following the increase in such cases, the District Administration has constituted a committee to check Child Marriages, besides taking up several initiatives at the local level, in coordination with several organisations and associations, Education Department, VA and PDO.

In the case of minors getting pregnant, there has been a grave concern about their health too.