3 min readApr 20, 2026 05:50 AM IST
As many as 13 child marriages, which were set to coincide with Akshaya Tritiya on Sunday, were successfully prevented in Rajasthan by the district administrations concerned with the help of an NGO, officials said.
Nine of these cases were from Udaipur, while there were two each from Pratapgarh and Sikar.
Yashoda Paniya, the acting chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC), Udaipur, said that prompt action was taken by the administration and local police after information was received from Gayatri Seva Sansthan (GSS), an NGO dedicated to child rights protection. This led to the prevention of six child marriages in a village. Local officials, including the patwari, gram secretary and sarpanch, were summoned and briefed on the directives of the Rajasthan High Court, officials said. In view of safety concerns, a boy and a girl each were also placed in a shelter home with the support of the organisation.
In 2024, the Rajasthan High Court, while hearing a petition filed by Just Rights for Children, held gram panchayats accountable for any failure to prevent child marriages within their jurisdiction, emphasising their legal responsibility in such cases.
Those who took part in the intervention in Udaipur included GSS district coordinator Nitin Paliwal, counsellor Payal Kaneria, GSS Child Helpline officer Shankar Bhoi, and Mukesh Khatik, the Child Welfare Officer at Dabok Police Station. Similar efforts were led by Ramchandra Meghwal in Pratapgarh and Naresh Saini in Sikar, along with their respective teams, officials said.
GSS director Dr Shailendra Pandya said that the organisation had announced a reward of Rs 1,100 for individuals providing information about child marriages on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, which was on Sunday and is considered an auspicious occasion to get married, across five districts: Udaipur, Pratapgarh, Chittorgarh, Salumbar and Sikar. The group had promised to ensure that the identity of informants would be kept confidential. This initiative was carried out in collaboration with the District Legal Services Authority, Child Welfare Committee, and Child Helpline over a month-long campaign, with a dedicated helpline number being issued to encourage reporting.
Pandya said that the organisation continues to undertake focused campaigns on sensitive occasions like Akshaya Tritiya.
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The Udaipur-based GSS is a partner organisation of Just Rights for Children, a national network of over 250 NGOs working towards the protection and promotion of child rights. Just Rights for Children works closely with the Centre, state governments, district administrations, law enforcement agencies, community workers and village panchayats with the aim of ending child marriage by 2030.
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