The Child Marriage Restraint Act 2017 fixing legal age for marriage in Bangladesh is contributing a lot in containing the number of child marriages in rural areas. Mobile app for confirming the actual age of a bride and a bridegroom has also become a useful tool to execute the law.
Under the act, the minimum age for marriage should be at least 18 for women and 21 for men. The government has already taken massive initiatives to eliminate the early marriage from the country.
The latest government survey in 2023 reveals that at least 41.6 percent of young women in Bangladesh were married before 18 years of age. In rural areas the number is 44.4 percent.
The survey conducted by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) had shown a rising trend of child marriages over the previous three years.
In 2022, 40.9 percent of women were found to have been married before turning 18 and the number was 32.4 percent in 2021 and 31.3 percent in 2020.
The survey also found that 8.2 percent of young women got married before they were 15. The number was 6.5 percent in 2021.
The survey was conducted over 3.08 lakh households across the country on married women between 20 and 24.
The following case studies revealed the successful execution of the Child Marriage Restraint Act.
A nine grade student Tamanna Islam, 15 year old daughter of Md Quaium of Digha village in Sharsha upazila of Jashore district was exposed to be victim of child marriage. Eldest among five children of Quaium was going to be getting married out of her father’s lot of hardship in maintaining the family.
Quaium was looking for getting his daughter Tamanna married off early. One day he got a proposal for his daughter through a relative. After getting the proposal, he finalized the date of wedding without taking any consent of Tamanna. And, the matrimony of schoolgirl Tamanna with 34-year Redwan was scheduled to celebrate on February 16.
But, being informed, Sharsha Thana police foiled the early marriage. Police rushed to the spot on that day and stopped the early marriage.
Same incident took place in case of 16 year old Jashoda Rani Dey, eldest daughter of Bikash Dey of Jhikargacha upazila of Jashore district. Jashoda was eldest among her three brothers and three sisters.
Her father Bikash was experiencing hardship in running his eight-member family as only a grocery shop was the lone source of his income which forced him to get married Jashoda, a student of Class-X at early age.
Jashoda’s mother Rani Dey was not agreed with the marriage. But Bikash fixed date of the marriage without taking any consent from his wife or daughter. After getting information from a friend of Jashoda, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Jhikargacha stopped the marriage with the help of local police.
The government launched a pilot project in Kurigram and introduced a mobile app to be confirmed about the age of the bride and bridegrooms before their marriage. Later, four more districts were brought under the project with the help of non-government organizations (NGOs).
Under the Child Marriage Restraint Act the registrars who make marriage registrations would have to be confirmed about the ages of the bride and bridegroom before wedding through the apps.
Human right activist Advocate Monowara Haque said if the girls stand against child marriage, one day Bangladesh will be freed from the social menace. People are going to be conscious about early marriage after introduction of mobile apps, she said.
