A child is about to be married
What usually matters in this situation, and the papers to keep ready before you meet an advocate or free legal aid (call 15100).
Your situation
- What is happening to the child? A child marriage is planned or has happened
- How soon is it? Within the next few days
Where you stand
- In your favour Anyone can report — you do not need to be a parent or a relative.
- In your favour A child married off can get the marriage annulled within 2 years of turning 18.
Do these now
- The 1098 / 112 call time, complaint or diary number, and the officer’s name
Lets you follow up and escalate. Where: Your phone log; the police.
Papers to gather
- Proof of the child’s age — birth certificate, school leaving certificate or Aadhaar
Age decides every right and offence here. Where: School, municipality, family papers. - A short dated note: what happened, where, who is involved and who saw it
Officials and the Committee act on clear facts. Where: Write it yourself. - Wedding card, photos, messages or names of the families, priest or hall
Needed for a Magistrate’s injunction or police action. Where: Family, WhatsApp groups, the venue.
What the law says
Under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 a girl must be 18 and a boy 21. A Judicial Magistrate can issue an injunction to stop a child marriage on a complaint from anyone (s.13), and a marriage held in breach of it is void (s.14). An adult man who marries a child, and anyone who performs, promotes or permits it, faces up to 2 years and a fine up to ₹1 lakh (ss.9–11). A child married off can have the marriage annulled within 2 years of becoming an adult (s.3). Each district has a Child Marriage Prohibition Officer (s.16). Under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 anyone who finds an abandoned child must report to the police, Childline 1098 or the Child Welfare Committee within 24 hours (s.32); cruelty to a child by a person in charge is punishable with up to 3 years (s.75), and using a child for begging with up to 5 years (s.76). A child accused of an offence goes to the Juvenile Justice Board, not to a regular court, and must not be kept in a police lock-up or jail. Physical punishment and mental harassment in school are banned (RTE Act s.17).
General information, not legal advice.
Saboot will also ask
- How are you connected to the child?
- Has anyone reported it yet?
Similar situations
- My daughter’s marriage is being fixed before she turns 18
- I was married as a child and want to get out of it
- I am under 18 and my family is forcing me to marry
- I found an abandoned baby or child
- A child has no one to look after them after the parents died
- A teacher beat or humiliated my child
- My child was beaten or harassed at a hostel or madrasa
- A child near me is being beaten or starved at home
Sources
- Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (sections 3, 9–11, 13, 14, 16)
- Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015
- Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 — section 17
- NALSA — free legal aid
The full guide: A child is at risk — child marriage, abandoned child, beating at school, child begging, or a child in a police case · All situations