Maha: Villages deicide to boycott families practising child marriages in Palghar

In an attempt to put a stop to child marriages, several villages in predominantly tribal Palghar district of Maharashtra have decided to boycott families that indulge in the illegal practice, police said on Saturday.

As a result of the Palghar police’s ‘Jan Samwad Abhiyan’ initiative, several villages in Wada and Vikramgad talukas of the district have now decided to boycott families that practice child marriages, an official from Wada police said.

District Superintendent of Police Balasaheb Patil has through his meetings appealed to villagers to prevent child marriages in their areas, he said. Several gram panchayats and social organisations have taken a lead to prohibit child marriages, which often lead to underage pregnancies, premature deliveries among other problems among women, the official said.

During a function organised earlier this week, villagers of Khuded (Bilal Pada) and Vijay Nagar in Vikramgad took an oath to not allow marriages of girls below the age of 18, he said.

The villagers also decided that those who violate this norm will have to face social boycott and legal action, he said This was a welcome move and such decisions are also being taken in several gram panchayats in their special gram sabhas, said Lahu Dinda, the sarpanch of Manivali village in Wada taluka.

Many initiatives implemented through the Janasamvad abhiyan were of public interest and they have received tremendous support from villagers, inspector Pradeep Gite of Wada police station said.