RAJBIRAJ, JANUARY 24

A ward office in Surunga Municipality of Saptari has come up with a new rule to discourage the scourge of child marriage. As per the new rule, it is mandatory to mention the date of birth of both the bride and bridegroom on the invitation card.

Ward Chairperson Shiva Narayan Chaudhary of Ward No 7 of Surunga Municipality issued a notice regarding the new rule and clarified that anyone flouting the rule would be subjected to punishment in line with the Local Governance Act and ward office rule. It is important to note that the municipality had declared itself child marriage-free at a ceremony two months ago.

'We have declared the municipality child marriage free recently. We hope the new rule of mandatory mention of DOBs of the betrothed in wedding invitation cards will be very important to achieve our child marriage-free local level,' the ward chair said, adding it is also mandatory to register the birth of each child born in the ward.

'Even the priests overseeing the marriage ritual and the members of the marriage procession will face punishment in the event of a case of child marriage,' Chaudhary said.

The ward office is running various awareness campaigns to raise public awareness to discourage drug abuse, dowry system and child marriage.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 25, 2023, of The Himalayan Times.