Supreme Court notice to Centre in petition on lack of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers

The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Central government in a petition praying for implementation of the provision concerning appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officer (CMPO) in a uniform and rationale manner..The petition filed by NGO Independent Thought had made a slew of prayers for effective implementation of Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA)..The implementation of the Act is dismal in the last over one decade since its enforcement on 1st November 2007 leading to continued child marriages which results in severe violation of Right to life and personal liberty under Article 21 and Article 14 and 15(3) of the Constitution for the girl child, the petition states..The petitioner has stated that the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 reflects the legislative policy that the girl child less than 18 years should not be married at all as it leads to sexual assault or infringement of her body/mind violating the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. It also has adverse health effects and disrupts the education of the girl child..However, child marriages still are the order of the day due to the lack of effective implementation of PCM Act, 2006. It is a silent National Emergency, having an intergenerational socio-economic impact, the petitioner contends..The petition also sets out some interesting data..It states that according to the data provided by Childline India, a project of Ministry of Women and Child Development, in an RTI reply, Childline received 15,017 calls from children concerning child marriages in 2017 (January – October). These are generally SOS calls by girls or their friends to save them from forced child marriages..However, for the year 2016 the latest available National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data indicates that the number of actual cases filed under PCM Act, 2006 was mere 326 cases amounting to just about 1.9% of the calls received. The number of cases filed during the previous years 2015 and 2014 are also similarly discouraging, 293 and 280 respectively..Regarding the role of Child Marriage Prohibition Officers, the petitioner has submitted that the CMPO plays a pivotal role in the implementation of the Act..However, there are no guidelines or planning on this important aspect. The numbers of CMPOs in a State vary in the range of 1 CMPO per district in West Bengal (a high child marriage prevalence State) to above 1850 CMPO per district in Karnataka..“Thus, in West Bengal, which is a high child marriage prevalence State, each CMPO has to cater around 4 Million (39,71,641) population while each CMPO in Karnataka is expected to cater to around 1000 (1091) population. With such differences the State is clearly violating Article 14 and denying equal protection of law, as mandated within the Constitution”, submits the petitioner..Prayer (b) of the petitioner deals with aspect and reads:.“Issue an appropriate writ, order or direction in the nature of mandamus for effecting implementation of the provision concerning appointment of Child Marriage Prohibition Officer (CMPO) in a uniform and rationale manner with clear roles, responsibility and accountability mechanisms.”.The Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and KM Joseph issued notice to the Centre on the above prayer alone..Advocate Gaurav Agrawal appeared for the petitioner..Read the order below.