Two wards of Raskot declared child marriage free

Raskot city chief Dharmaraj Shahi and deputy chief Maniraj Baral took part in the announcement meeting organized by the ward office, and stakeholders pledged that all 9 wards of the city would be declared free of child marriage within a year.

Community also considers child marriage as a social crime, since no child marriage was done in one year, Ward No. 4 and 9 were declared free of child marriage two days apart, said Municipal Child Rights Committee Coordinator Maniraj Baral.

'Child marriage is a distortion in the society,' Baral said, 'First of all, they drop out of school, and then there are many negative effects.' He said that a campaign has been started to end child marriage forever, which hinders all progress including children's development.

According to the strategy against child marriage created by Raskot Municipality, considering that child marriage has an adverse effect on children's education, health, protection, nutrition and social security, Dinesh Sanjyal, Ward President of Ward no. .

There has been a common effort to end child marriage as it is a social and legal crime. He said, 'If someone commits child marriage, they will be socially excluded.' If someone commits child marriage contrary to the interests of children, the municipality will take action according to the law, said the city head Dharmaraj Shahi.

According to a survey conducted in Raskot, child marriage dropped to 67 percent in 2020, 61 percent in 2021, 51 percent in 2022 and 32 percent in 2023. Dalsingh Kumal, involved in the survey, said that child marriage was declared free through a formal program organized by the ward office.  ;

Child marriage has hindered children's education and has also increased violence against women, said Namraj Yogi, vice president of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists. He advised all the parents if they want to see their grandparents progress, they should get married only when they are old enough.