The NGO Child Rights and You (CRY) said India has the highest number of child brides and its rate of child marriages has declined by just 11 per cent in the last 15 years.
CRY said recognising Mother’s Day is a welcome step but it also raised concern about the young girls who are experiencing motherhood due to coercion, trafficking and in economic and social deprivation. “Our country today has the highest rate of child marriage with globally the highest number of child brides. Over 50 per cent of them are in Rajasthan, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal,” CRY said in a statement.
As per the census report in 2011, in Maharashtra there were 2,12,993 married girls under 15 years of age, out of which 21 per cent have become mothers. 15 per cent of them have two children while 6 per cent have one child. In Mumbai, 20,988 girls were married before 15 years, of which 24 per cent have attained motherhood.