43% of underage married girls suffer marital violence: Survey

New Delhi: March 09, 2011

Adolescent marriage and domestic violence are two widely prevalent but unacknowledged practices. Recent studies on the married life of adolescent girls reveal a chilling link between the two. Anita Raj of Boston University School of Public Health, involved in several such studies said that adolescent marriage appears to be directly correlated with increased violence at home: emotional, physical and sexual, practiced both by the husband and the in-laws. It is unabated even during pregnancy and motherhood. And, most sobering of all, female children born to under-age mothers suffer from higher risks of dying before they reach their fifth birthday.

Read more