60,000 births by underage mothers in just 6 months; West Bengal govt steps up child marriage hunt

West Bengal has ordered a severe, statewide hunt to identify and prosecute individuals involved in underage marriages and teenage pregnancies. The state government is deploying local authorities to track down husbands and facilitators using recent hospital records. This massive domestic push coincides with India’s international commitment at the United Nations, where the nation has joined global forces to eliminate child marriage completely by 2030.

State hunts down offenders of minor marriages

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari announced immediate, house-to-house searches targeting suspected underage marriages. The administration is using state health registry records to identify girls under eighteen who have given birth in hospitals this year. Husbands of these minors face automatic, state-initiated prosecutions under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. If found guilty of having sexual relations with a minor, these men face a minimum of ten years in prison, with severe cases carrying life terms.

The government is also penalising anyone who facilitates or performs these ceremonies. Priests, qazis, and parents face prosecution under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, which carries up to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fines of up to one lakh rupees. Furthermore, families found complicit will lose access to all state welfare schemes. Chief Minister Adhikari stated that the law would be applied equally across all communities, noting that over half of the teenage mothers recorded in the first six months of the year were Muslim. He accused the previous Trinamool Congress administration of deliberately ignoring the crisis and withholding crucial child marriage statistics from central authorities.

The health consequences of these early marriages are devastating. Between January and June of this year alone, West Bengal hospitals recorded nearly 60,000 births to mothers under eighteen. Murshidabad district registered the highest number at twelve thousand eight hundred and forty-seven deliveries. This was followed by South Twenty-Four Parganas with over four thousand cases and Purba Bardhaman with nearly thirty-eight hundred. Diamond Harbour recorded the lowest among these districts at eighteen hundred and six. According to health officials, every single infant born to these minor mothers suffered from below-normal birth weights, and cases have been found involving brides as young as ten.

High local rates match national census alarm

These dramatic measures follow findings from latest Sample Registration System Statistical Report, published in May 2026. The official demographic survey revealed that West Bengal has the highest rate of child marriage among all major Indian states. Over six per cent of females in West Bengal marry before the age of eighteen, compared to a national average of just over two per cent.

This high marriage rate directly drives the state's teenage pregnancy crisis. West Bengal leads the country with nearly twenty-three births per thousand girls aged fifteen to nineteen, which is more than double the national average of nearly eleven. Consequently, the state registers the lowest average maternal age of fertility in India at twenty-six and a half years, compared to a national average of over twenty-eight. Despite national improvements in female education and a rising average marriage age of over twenty-three across India, West Bengal remains a critical bottleneck in the national effort to save young girls from early domestic confinement.

International day chosen to target future eradication

India's domestic fight is now aligned with its foreign policy. The country has co-sponsored a consensus resolution at the 193-member United Nations General Assembly to declare November 27 as the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage. Spearheaded by Sierra Leone and supported by dozens of countries, the resolution urges global governments to pass strict national laws and fund targeted action plans to collapse the networks that enable early marriages.

This newly established international day carries deep national significance. It was on November 27, 2024, that India launched its own Child Marriage Free India campaign, also known as Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat. This nationwide initiative was designed to reduce the prevalence of child marriage by ten per cent by 2026 and to achieve complete eradication by 2030. UN advocates hope that this designated global day will serve as an annual reminder of accountability, forcing schools, law enforcement, and local communities to protect children's fundamental rights to education and a self-determined future.