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Kolkata/Murshidabad. A very worrying and sensational case to children's rights and health has come to light from West Bengal. Murshidabad district of the state has been identified as a major hotspot of underage deliveries and child marriage. Recently revealed government figures and reports have created a stir in women's organizations, health departments and administrative departments. Questions are now being raised from all sides on this serious playing with the lives of minor girls under the guise of exploitation and social evils.

According to the reports received, there is a continuous increase in the cases of underage girls becoming pregnant and giving birth to children in hospitals in Murshidabad and its surrounding rural areas. Despite all the strict laws and government awareness campaigns against child marriage, the situation on the ground remains very frightening. Due to social evils, poverty, and ignorance of legal rules, marriage of minor girls is still arranged in many families. When these adolescent girls go through the phase of motherhood at a young age, their body is not ready for this physical change, due to which the life of both mother and child is always in serious danger.

Taking cognizance of this serious situation, the State Government, Child Rights Protection Commission and Health Department have reacted strongly to it. The district administration has been directed to deploy special monitoring teams in sensitive areas of Murshidabad and ensure strictest legal action under POCSO and Child Marriage Prohibition Act against the families and middlemen involved in such cases. Along with this, a strategy is also being worked on to create a mass movement against this social curse in rural areas by running awareness campaigns at the grassroots level.