Officials in India Stop Mass Marriage of Children

Social activists and government officials in India last week intervened and stopped a mass marriage of children aged between 6 and 14 years.  Last Thursday was ‘Ambaiyya Jatara’, which is a day considered auspicious for weddings. Over a hundred members of the Gangiredulla community gathered in Kagazmaddur village for the mass marriage when a community member tipped off some social activists who in turn alerted government officials and the police. “We faced a lot of resistance as the villagers were concerned about the money already spent on organizing the event,” said M Subhash Chandra of Centre for Action Research and People’s Development (CARPED), a social organization that has been working among members of the same community in another village  to put an end to child marriages.  Source: Roli Srivastava, mumbairmirror.com. For more information, please click here (last visited December 14, 2005, reo).