Mysore, Apr 28 : State level Child Marriage Prevention Core Committee Chairman and former Supreme Court Judge Shivraj V Patil today stressed on making the existing laws more effective to prevent child marriages.

He also stressed the need to draft policies to strengthen the laws further to ensure that they were effectively implemented.

Presiding over a day-long consultative meeting on 'Prevention of Child Marriages', organised by Zilla Panchayat here, Justice Patil said "the reasons behind the child marriages could be poverty, lack of education, social and cultural practice coupled with beliefs and those triggered by emotional and sentimental situations." "Any individual or organisations conducting a mass marriage should be mandatorily made responsible to obtain prior permission from authority concerned and even the owner of the marriage hall should ensure that everything is as per law," he added.

He said Child marriages were creating ill-effects on minor girl's both physical and mental health and the elders should be aware of these consequences.

By the end of June 2011, 300 departmental heads of Mysore, Mandya and Chamarajanagar districts along with heads of various organisations would offer suggestions to the state government for drafting a action plan to prevent child marriages.

Our Correspondent