Police foil four child marriages in Lamjung district this fiscal

Lamjung, March 17

Four complaints related to child marriage have been filed in Lamjung so far this fiscal, as per police data. This is in contrast to the records of previous two consecutive fiscals when the number of such complaints was nil.

According to Assistant Sub-inspector Nanda Kumari Adhikari, chief of Women and Children Centre at Lamjung District Police Office, all four weddings were stopped with timely police intervention.

Police in the district have been coordinating with local mothers’ groups, youth clubs, children’s clubs and people’s representatives to crack down on child marriage.

“Whatever complaints we received so far were from urban areas,” she said, adding, “ Under-aged children are being forced into matrimony in rural areas too, but these incidents are hardly brought to the notice of the police.”

Further, Adhikari also informed of the recent trend as per which child marriage has also been seen in the Brahmin-Chhetri community.

“Earlier, such marriages were mainly found in indigenous and Dalit communities, but lately it’s been seen even in the Brahmin and Chhetri castes,” he explained.

The new criminal code has outlawed marriage between under-20-year-olds and envisions prison sentence of up to three years and a fine up to Rs 30,000 for anyone involved in forcing those who have not reached legal age into marriage. One has to reach 20 years of age to be legally married. Earlier, the legal age for marriage was 18.