Child Marriage in Tarai Region of Nepal

Abstract

This article is on the causes and consequences of child marriage in Dhanushadham Municipality of Dhanusha District that is in provision-2, Tarai Region of Nepal. Child marriage is not a new phenomenon in Nepal. The problem of child marrige was seen in Tarai region of Nepal, especially it was seen in rural area among lower caste people like; Dalits(Mushahar, Chamar & Dom) and also in some higher caste like;Yadav, Sah and Brhaman. My argument in this article is; Child marriage is socially constructed , although the scenary has some changed that youths have been found responsible for doing early marriage for the self sufficient of sexual relation. This study relies on qualitative disscussion and researcher applied purposive sampling method for collecting details information on both primary as well secondary data. Findings of the study show that marriage is not a biological event like birth or death; rather it is a social event that is determined by the society. One of the major factors for child marriage is dowry practice in Tarai that badly affected life of girls and women violence has increased due to early marriage and dowry practice. It highly shows that less dowry demand in child marriage and it incase of higher education demand high dowry. Furthermore, the study requires further study in whole province-2 and awareness among people. It highly demands to give quality and higher education for both son & daughter for ending child marriage and dowry practices. Government need to effective monitoring and strong rules and policies to decrease women violence in Tarai.