The Child Marriage Reversal: Why Delhi Numbers Are Moving the Wrong Way

When Anushka and Fatima (names changed) became mothers, the celebrations were short-lived. The two new mothers spent the next few months juggling between court dates and caregiving. Questions were raised about the legitimacy of their marriages, their being mothers and the uncertain future of the children they had just given birth to.

Anushka was 17 when she got married. Fatima was 16. When they became mothers, both were below 18.

While Anushka was married to a 22-year-old man, Fatima’s husband was 28. In Anushka’s case, a case was filed after the doctors at Safdarjung Hospital discovered she was a minor. Eventually, in April 2026, the Delhi High Court quashed the first information report (FIR) after Anushka consistently told the court that she married the man voluntarily and did not want the criminal proceedings to continue. In the case of Fatima, legal proceedings are ongoing.

Just the fact that these two cases have come to light in the national capital is worrisome. But Anushka and Fatima are not alone. Delhi is bucking the national trend—data shows that the number of child marriages in many parts of Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) has gone up.

The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data offers a broader picture of the practice, measured as the share of women aged 20-24 who were married before turning 18. According to the latest NFHS-6 (2023—24), the share of women aged 20-24 who were married before 18 in India fell by more than three percentage points—from 23.3 per cent in NFHS-5 (2019—21) to 20.1 per cent.

Delhi, however, has seen an uptick. The share of women aged 20-24 years married before the age of 18 has gone up by 1.5 percentage points: from 9.9 to 11.4 per cent. Eight of Delhi’s 11 districts recorded an increase in the share of underage women getting married before the legal age. Although the rise between NFHS-5 and NFHS-6 marks a reversal in Delhi’s longer-term decline since NFHS-1 (28.7 per cent), the question to ask is—why is the number going up now?

To understand the bigger picture, Outlook analysed data from 35 districts across the NCR. While 18 districts in the NCR registered an increase in child marriage, 17 registered a fall. Surprisingly, South Delhi, considered the most prestigious and expensive residential pocket in New Delhi, saw the sharpest rise—from 6.6 to 17.4 per cent, which changed its ranking from 32 to six. Jhajjar (7.7 to 13 per cent) and Gautam Buddha Nagar (13.5 to 18 per cent) followed. The rise recorded in South Delhi and Gautam Buddha Nagar exposes a blind spot in the national story of progress: a falling average does not mean every girl is safe, even a few kilometres from Parliament.

Among NCR districts, Alwar (29.7 per cent) tops the list; Nuh and Bharatpur follow. While both the urban and rural numbers have seen a decline, at least eight states and union territories have seen an increase. They include Lakshadweep, Punjab, Delhi, Goa, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

But the story is beyond numbers. Despite being legally prohibited, child marriage remains a pervasive social challenge, impacting millions of young girls and boys. It exposes young girls to serious health risks, especially from early pregnancies, increases vulnerability to domestic violence and perpetuates cycles of poverty and gender inequality.

In terms of policy goals, India aspires to eradicate child, early and forced marriages by 2030. The Ministry of Women and Child Development launched the Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat in 2024. The objective of the campaign is to prevent child marriage, keep girls in education, strengthen law enforcement, encourage reporting of child marriage cases and empower girls through education, skills training and economic opportunities. To achieve the target, policymakers must move beyond simply enforcing the law and address poverty, gender inequality, social pressures and lack of educational opportunities that drive families to marry off their children early.

Unsafe Everywhere

Varsha Deshpande, a women’s rights activist with more than 35 years of experience, says the main reason behind child marriage is that girls and their families don’t feel safe “Women’s safety is a major concern in cities like Delhi. Parents, at times, don’t even consider the commute to school safe. This results in girls dropping out. And what is the next best step for society? Marrying them off,” she adds.

In August, a 16-year-old class 11 student from Mainpuri, Uttar Pradesh left home after an argument with her family and mistakenly got off at Pari Chowk in Greater Noida during heavy rain. She signalled an empty private sleeper bus and got a lift. The driver and the conductor reportedly sexually assaulted her inside the moving bus with the curtains drawn and lights off. They abandoned her roughly 47 kms later near Kashmere Gate in Delhi. Taking note of the incident, the Supreme Court said “one cannot help but draw painful parallels to the 2012 Nirbhaya case, calling into question whether systemic law enforcement mechanisms have made any meaningful progress in the decade since then”. Recent incidents of crime against women and minors have raised parents’ fear for their daughters’ safety, particularly in Delhi. In September 2026, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of a spate of sexual-assault incidents against minors and women in the NCR.

As a result of such an unsafe environment, some families may see early marriage as a way to protect their daughters, reduce financial pressure or conform to social expectations. Child marriages are also driven by a combination of poverty, gender inequality, social customs and limited access to education.

The Supreme Court, in an October 2024 judgement observed that “all child marriages are forced marriages”. The court said some parents marry off their daughters early because of concerns about family honour, dowry and the cost of raising a child. “Culturally embedded concepts of virginity and chastity are used to control the sexuality of women by men and the family… Honour, purity and decisional incapacity are presented as the domain of womanhood and its protection is laid in the institution of marriage,” the court said.

Deshpande, who founded the Dalit Mahila Vikas Mandal to advance women’s rights, says that child marriage occurs across caste and religious lines. Anganwadi workers, ward members and, at times, even elected representatives are aware of the cases. “The involvement of social activists helped contain child marriages. However, their involvement in policymaking has reduced drastically,” she adds.

Last year, a 15-year-old girl’s wedding was foiled in time in Delhi after a joint operation by the police and NGO Bal Vikas Dhara (BVD). The girl was about to be married to a 21-year-old man at a newly opened temple when a temple board member, also associated with BVD, grew suspicious. He informed the NGO. Multiple teams of the NGO and police reached the spot, and when questioned, the groom showed his Aadhaar card, but the bride’s family hesitated to provide her identification. They gave inconsistent answers about her documents, raising further suspicion. Police and a medical team were called to verify her age. Doctors confirmed that she was underage, yet the families insisted they were not violating the law.

Kriti Bharti, a rehabilitation psychologist and children’s rights activist, says that even when police, or agencies reach and try to stop the marriages, families change the venue and perform rituals. Bharti, who secured the annulment of India’s first child marriage in 2012, has since annulled 55 and prevented 2,500 child marriages. She says parents are particularly concerned about sexual offences, followed by cases of love marriages. They see early marriage as a remedy but fail to realise that even child marriage is a sexual offence. “While the poor and uneducated fear the law and the police, the urban and educated people are aware of the loopholes. They don’t keep any record of these marriages. So, it becomes difficult to establish the crime before the court, even when minor girls object,” she says.

Legal Protections

As per the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, any sexual act by a man with his wife who is below 18 years of age amounts to rape. The Supreme Court has further clarified that when the husband of a child bride commits penetrative sexual assault on her, it amounts to aggravated penetrative sexual assault, an offence punishable under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, 2012.

The court, while quashing the FIR in Anushka’s case, said the consent of a minor victim is of no legal value. In the case of Fatima, it noted that marriage recognised under personal law cannot confer immunity from Pocso when the wife is below 18 at the time of sexual intercourse.

However, courts have sometimes taken different approaches when deciding cases involving adolescents who eloped, married and subsequently established a family. The challenge is to achieve consistent legal outcomes across jurisdictions while ensuring that personal or customary practices do not undermine statutory child protection. Cases become particularly complex when a minor says they left home voluntarily, wishes to live with their partner, or has a child with that partner. Courts may have to consider protection, custody, rehabilitation and criminal liability simultaneously.

The fundamental issue is not simply whether child marriage should be prohibited. It is how the law can prevent child marriage, protect minors from sexual exploitation, hold those responsible accountable and safeguard the future of children who are already in such marriages. Although the 2023 Unicef report points that one in three of the world’s child brides live in India, it also says that India has made remarkable progress towards ending child marriage. It credits the progress to improvements in female education, a reduction in poverty and fertility, the promotion of positive gender norms and the strengthened capacity of social service, justice and enforcement systems, among other factors. The Bal Vivah Mukt Bharat mission was launched a year later. It remains to be seen if India is able to achieve its target by 2030.

Nivedita Singh is senior correspondent, Outlook