Marriage debts drive parents to suicide

■ The debt situation faced by parents is particularly worrying. Instead of finding and stopping the illegal marriage before the ceremonies, law enforcement officials are conducting raids at the last moment, often on the day of the marriage itself

In most cases where officials have stopped child marriages at the last moment, parents have been mired in heavy debt, apart from landing in legal trouble.

Ogulapuram Mallaiah, a 50-year-old washerman from Brahmanapally in Hayatnagar mandal, committed suicide last month after officials stopped the marriage of his 16-year-old daughter.

Mallaiah had sold his house for her marriage and made arrangements for her engagement on April 3 with a 23-year-old man from Maheswaram mandal. Based on information, officials from the women and child welfare department, Childline and Balala Hakkula Sangham stopped the function and sent the girl to the state home at Kacheguda.

The Hayatnagar tahsildar had counselled Mallaiah and his wife Suramma and promised the family a 2BHK house as they had sold their house for the marriage.

Mallaiah went into depression over the scandal, the wasted money and the sale of his house, and committed suicide.

Ms Suramma said that they had requested the officials not to stop the func- tion. “We told them that it was only the engagement and not the wedding, but they sent my daughter to the state home. The tahsildar promised a 2BHK house but there is no response from officials now,” she said.

Illiteracy, poverty, outdated sentiments and lack of awareness about the law in rural areas are leading to child marriages.

In most cases, tribals including those from the Banjaras, SC communities, minorities and migrant families from Karnataka and Maharashtra encourage child marriages in Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy, Mahbubnagar, Nalgonda and Karimnagar districts.

The debt situation of the parents is worrisome. Instead of finding and stopping the marriage before the engagement, officials are conducting raids at the last moment, often on the day of the marriage.

Although the government has formed many committees at the village level to prevent child marriages, most of these committees do not follow the schedule of meetings.

Almost in all the 500 child marriage cases across the state, officials conducted raids after receiving information at the last moment.