Rohtak, June 20 -- Despite strict legal prohibitions and public awareness campaigns, Haryana continues to struggle with the deep-rooted challenge of child marriage. This is highlighted by the 402 complaints registered under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act from April 2025 to March 2026. According to a report by the state women and child development department, from April 2025 to March 2026, Karnal registered the highest number of child marriage complaints, with 82 out of the 402 cases statewide. This accounts for over 20% of all reported incidents in the region. Fatehabad remains at the second position with 43 cases, followed by Sonepat (33), Panipat (31), Kaithal (30), Nuh (Mewat) (27), Hisar (19), Jind (17), Kurukshetra (16), Rohtak and Yamunanagar (12). Meanwhile, Sirsa, Palwal, and Jhajjar districts reported 11 cases each, while Rewari, Ambala, and Bhiwani each recorded 9 cases, with Narnaul under Mahendragarh district noting 8 cases. The remaining districts registered fewer occurrences, with Gurugram reporting 5 cases, Panchkula and Charkhi Dadri reporting 3 cases each, and Faridabad recording just 1 case. According to the report, from April 2024 to February 2025, Haryana witnessed 335 complaints related to child marriages and Karnal with 65 complaints was at the top position, followed by Panipat (39), Nuh (26), Sirsa (23), and Palwal and Fatehabad with 19 each. Even the issue of child marriage was also highlighted in the recently released National Family Health Survey (NFHS-6) which revealed that child marriage among women (aged 20-24) remains at 11.9% in 2023-24. While early marriage among men (aged 25-29) reported at 13.3%. According to official records, Haryana reported 33 child marriage cases each in 2020 and 2021, 37 cases in 2022, and 28 cases in 2024. However, these figures do not capture the number of complaints received or marriages prevented through timely intervention by protection-cum-child marriage prohibition officers (PPOs). Though the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, sets the legal age of marriage at 18 for women and 21 for men, the strict compliance and monitoring of the Act remains a challenge as officials deputed as a PPO had to struggle to get information about child marriage. "Detecting child marriages is difficult because information usually comes from friends of the children involved. A large number of cases never come to the authorities' notice, and even when they do, the conviction rate remains very low," said a PPO, speaking on condition of anonymity. According to Sonia Khatri, state coordinator of Martha Farrell Foundation, child marriage remains deeply rooted in Haryana, driven largely by parents' fears of children choosing their own partners. She said many families view early marriage as a solution to social concerns, while resistance and reluctance to discuss the issue continue to hamper awareness efforts. Dr Poonam Raman, joint director, Integrated Child Development Services Scheme (ICDS), women and child development department, Haryana, said that higher number of migratory population could be a reason in the district with higher number of child marriages....