Girl child marriage rate highest among SC/ST: NCPCR
New Delhi, Sep 13 : The prevalence of child marriage in India is the highest amongst Scheduled Tribe girls (15 per cent) followed by Scheduled Castes (13 per cent), according to a report released by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
The report which was released on the NCPCR website on Wednesday, is based on a comparative analysis of data on child marriage in the 15-19 age group from the third and fourth rounds of the National Family Health Survey (NHFS) conducted in 2005-2006 and 2015-16. The report has been prepared by Young Lives India, a research centre, in collaboration with the NCPCR.
According to the report, this phenomenon is evident among the top 10 states with the highest prevalence of child marriage.
West Bengal has the highest rate of child marriage amongst SC girls, while in Arunachal Pradesh it is highest among Scheduled Tribes. In other castes, Maharashtra has the highest percentage of girl child marriage.
Furthermore, Bihar, Gujarat and Telangana report very high prevalence of child marriages amongst OBC girls below the age of 18.
However, according to the report, a comparative analysis of child marriage for 15-19 year old girls as reported in NFHS-3 (2005-06) and NFHS-4 (2015-16) reveals that the overall prevalence of child marriage has reduced to a large extent in the last 10 years in a large number of states.
Substantial reduction of child marriage (more than 20 percentage points) is observed in the states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in the age group of 15-19.
The findings also reveal that prevalence of girl child marriage in the age-group 15-19 years is significant in rural areas as well as certain states and UTs which have large pockets of child marriage within urban areas such as Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Manipur.
According to the release, some factors like economic status and women's educational level are associated with child marriage. It is observed that child marriage is more prevalent amongst women from bottom wealth tercile households.
In 13 states and one UT, more than 40 per cent of the child marriages took place amongst the bottom wealth tercile households.
The findings also show that completion rate of secondary schooling is considerably higher amongst unmarried girls aged 15-19 years in almost all states.
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Union minister Hardeep Puri's daughter moves Delhi HC over allegations of links with Epstein
New Delhi (PTI): Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri's daughter has moved the Delhi High Court for the removal of "false" and "defamatory" social media content linking her to convicted American sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The lawsuit by Himayani Puri is likely to be heard in the high court this week.
In her lawsuit seeking Rs 10 crore as damages and an order to restrain several entities from disseminating defamatory content, Himayani Puri said there was a "coordinated and malicious online campaign" to link her to Epstein and his crimes.
She also sought an unconditional apology and retraction from the defendant entities.
"Commencing on or around 22.02.2026, a series of false, misleading and defamatory posts, articles, videos and digital material were published, disseminated and amplified across social media and intermediary platforms including inter alia X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, digital news portals and other web-based publications," the plea said.
Himayani Puri asserted that she is an accomplished finance and investment professional, who is being targeted solely because she is Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Puri's daughter.
According to her lawsuit, the defendants disseminated "baseless imputations" that Himayani Puri maintained direct or indirect business, financial or personal network links with Epstein.
The allegations are entirely false, malicious and devoid of factual foundation, the plea said.
