1. It affects the physical health of the girl. A girl has to attain puberty and should be physically fit to enter into marital life which contains sexual intercourse with the partner, childbearing, delivery and nurturing of the children. If the girl is not mature enough to bear all these, it will affect her physical health badly which may lead to abortions, early birth, anaemia etc. which are all a threat to even the life of the mother and lead to maternal mortality.
2. It impacts the mental health of the girl. Entering into marriage demands a lot of mental strain, especially in the Indian context. A girl has to leave the comfort of her parental home and may be shifted to a different place and unknown culture where she may have to adopt a new dress style, new food habits, new routine and so on. This gives a lot of stress to the girl, affecting her mental well-being. Moreover, sexual intercourse, pregnancy, delivery, breastfeeding and nurturing the newborn are all strenuous for a small girl to undergo and they lead to many psychological imbalances.
3. It affects the health of newborn babies. The health of a child depends upon the health of the mother. If the mother is not healthy enough and has any kind of mental stress or imbalance, it is hazardous to her offspring and can cause infant mortality.
4. It discourages the education of girls. Getting married early leads to girls dropping out of schools and colleges.
5. It affects the economy of the family as well as the country badly.
6. Delaying marriage helps in population control. This argument has been specially put forward by those people who raise their eyebrows when they see a slight growth in population in those communities which they consider the ‘Other’ from among the minority and marginalized communities. And they come up with exaggerated figures to create fear among the majority. This happens in many countries across the world as well as in India.

1. We said that child marriages affect the physical health of girls. But are child marriages the only cause of the poor health of girls? The entire system gives only second to the boys’ preference when it comes to proper diet, sanitation facilities, medical care and awareness of health and hygiene be it inside the family or within the society or with regards to the projects and services from the government to this effect. Of course, we have many projects and schemes. But they are mostly in paper and propaganda rather than in actual implementation. If at all implemented, they reach only the selected ‘Our People’. There is no doubt that sexual intercourse at an early age is dangerous to the health of a girl. But what about the health of a girl who has to subdue to the sexual needs of many men in unprotected circumstances? The use of alcohol and drugs, the existing attitude towards women and girls of marginalized societies especially by the privileged classes, rape used as a political tool and the convicts getting protected or even encouraged by those in power…..all lead to young girls falling prey to the lust of powerful men. Isn’t this affecting their health? The drastic measures by governments are forcing girls to rely on unsafe methods to delay pregnancy, not going to hospitals or taking any kind of medical assistance to avoid being booked. This again is very detrimental to the health of the nation’s future generations altogether.
2. Even if we completely agree that early marriages affect the mental health of a child, are they the only reasons why the mental health of a girl gets affected? Many girls who live in slum areas and rural villages in India always complain about the feeling of insecurity due to the increasing rapes and crimes against girls and women and how it affects their sleep and mental well-being. The poor girls, not knowing whom to approach, continue their life bearing the agony. If at all any girl musters courage and complains, the legal procedure tortures her to the extent that she enters into a completely lost state of mind reliving the agony again and again. In many cases of child marriage when we ask parents why they did so, they say that it is to escape this trauma of feeling insecure that they look for a suitable ‘Protector’ for their girls as early as possible. The unjust treatment given to them by most of the authorities at public service centres including schools, hospitals, police stations, courts and public transports develops ill feelings in their minds leading to negative thinking, disappointment and hatred against the entire society and system. Aren’t they detrimental to the mental health of a girl? What steps do our governments take in making them feel accepted and included in the larger society as equal citizens with equal rights?
3. The claim that delaying marriage will help in population control is not completely true. Many girls in rural villages and among the Adivasis give birth to children where even the father is not known which is more harmful to the well-being of those children as well as the society rather than having children born out of legitimate married life.
4. The other claim is that child marriage affects the mental and physical health of the children. True to some extent. But what about those children who are born illegitimately not knowing who their fathers are? There are also those children born to mothers who have to bear the unwanted effect of rape and undergo the agony of that mental and physical torture, followed by the guilty feeling created in her mind by society? How can those children be physically and mentally fit?

A recent report on the child marriage drive by the Association for the Protection of Child Rights titled “Unjust Arrests”, has noted the following as its key observations from interactions with the victims as well as a broad quantitative study: the arrests have led to deteriorating health conditions of women, particularly pregnant women because some data of pregnant women has also been leaked by ASHA workers; there is retrospective implementation of a law rather than an attempt to bring about social change holistically; there is clear violation of the Supreme Court guidelines on arrests laid down in DK Basu v State of West Bengal (1997); the lack of a robust civil society is making it difficult for people to organise such injustice and has left them alienated and finally, that there is lack of legal aid, particularly in rural and remote areas.