According to ‘The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006’, any marriage where either of the contracting party is a child at the time of the marriage is voidable at the option of the contracting parties if they approach the court within two years of attaining their majority.
As per National Crime Records Bureau reports, the Karnataka State became top on “child marriage cases reported” list with 65 reported cases.
The Assam and Tamil Nadu came in 2nd and 3rd spots with 58 and 55 child marriage reports respectively.
The total number of child marriage cases reported during the last five years are as follows;
State-wise number of child marriage cases reported during the last five years.
| Sl. No. | State/UT | Number of Cases registered during the year | ||||
| 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||
| 1 | Andhra Pradesh | 16 | 16 | 15 | 19 | 15 |
| 2 | Arunachal Pradesh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Assam | 1 | 4 | 14 | 23 | 58 |
| 4 | Bihar | 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| 5 | Chhattisgarh | 1 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 1 |
| 6 | Goa | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Gujarat | 12 | 16 | 9 | 12 | 6 |
| 8 | Haryana | 17 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 18 |
| 9 | Himachal Pradesh | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 10 | Jammu & Kashmir | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Jharkhand | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 |
| 12 | Karnataka | 26 | 44 | 35 | 51 | 65 |
| 13 | Kerala | 11 | 19 | 13 | 8 | 15 |
| 14 | Madhya Pradesh | 6 | 15 | 9 | 9 | 5 |
| 15 | Maharashtra | 16 | 14 | 24 | 16 | 20 |
| 16 | Manipur | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Meghalaya | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Mizoram | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Nagaland | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Odisha | 0 | 0 | 1 | 15 | 17 |
| 21 | Punjab | 0 | 2 | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| 22 | Rajasthan | 5 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 6 |
| 23 | Sikkim | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Tamil Nadu | 56 | 47 | 77 | 55 | 55 |
| 25 | Telangana | 13 | 15 | 19 | 25 | |
| 26 | Tripura | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 27 | Uttar Pradesh | 5 | 10 | 4 | 3 | 4 |
| 28 | Uttarakhand | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 29 | West Bengal | 43 | 37 | 40 | 41 | 49 |
| 30 | A & N Islands | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 31 | Chandigarh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 32 | D&N Haveli | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 33 | Daman & Diu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 34 | Delhi UT | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 35 | Lakshadweep | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 36 | Puducherry | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Total | 222 | 280 | 293 | 326 | 395 | |
The Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Zubin Irani gave the above information in the Rajya Sabha on 28th November.
