It's 2025, but child marriages in Madhya Pradesh continue to rise at an alarming pace. What's even more troubling is the state government's disconnect from the crisis.
A few days ago, Just Rights for Children, an organisation working across 41 districts of Madhya Pradesh, revealed that it prevented 36,838 child marriages and rescued 4,777 children from trafficking in just two years.
But despite such interventions, the numbers aren't dropping. In fact, data presented in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly shows the opposite: instances of child marriage are steadily increasing.
When asked about these figures, the state Women and Child Development Minister Nirmala Bhuria said she had "no such information". "No such question was raised in the Assembly. I have no such information," she said, adding that she would investigate the source of these figures.
Interestingly, it was her department that tabled the written response in the Assembly. When the opposition questioned her in the House, she distanced herself from her department's data.
NDTV has repeatedly documented stories of children whose childhoods were traded away in the name of tradition. In Rajgarh, a 12-year-old boy, engaged since infancy, shyly explained the bracelet he received as a token. A 10-year-old girl ate sweets at her engagement, too ashamed to speak. Children too young to understand marriage, yet old enough to be trapped by it. "I didn't want the engagement... I want to study and become a doctor," a fifth-grader said, her voice trembling between innocence and resignation.
Across fields and dusty lanes, children with anklets and bangles, not ornaments but symbols of bondage, continue to carry the weight of customs that crush their future. Their pleas to their parents are dismissed with the same old refrain: "This is our custom."
Rajgarh district in Madhya Pradesh has a 46 per cent child marriage rate, nearly double the national average of 23.3 per cent.
In the Assembly, the state government's data tells the chilling story. Child marriage cases in Madhya Pradesh have been rising steadily year after year. In 2021, 450 cases were reported; this climbed to 519 in 2022, 528 in 2023, and 529 in 2024. Now, with 538 cases already recorded in 2025, the trend shows no sign of slowing down.
Former minister and Congress leader Jaivardhan Singh criticised the government. "The government claims awareness is growing... but these rising figures prove otherwise. Who will ensure the safety of daughters?"
Madhya Pradesh was the first state in India to bring in the death penalty for the rape of minor girls-a landmark decision. Experts now argue that the same resolve must be shown toward child marriage. Enforcement must be tighter, accountability sharper, and protection mechanisms far stronger because every rising digit in these statistics represents a stolen childhood.
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 prohibits the marriage of a male below 21 years of age and a female below 18. Such marriages are voidable if one of the two raises objections within two years of attaining majority (23 years for male and 20 for female). The parents and the priest can face action for forcing one or two minors into child marriage.
