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J’khand priest a crusader against child marriage
The Morning Standard
|September 18, 2025
A staunch opponent of child marriage, a priest known as Pandit Buddhinath at the ancient Shiva temple of Harila Jori in Jharkhand’s Deoghar is going out of his way in his fight against the practice. In the last 15 months alone, he has thwarted well over a dozen child marriages.
By doing so, he is setting an example for other faith leaders in Deoghar, where child marriage rates are alarmingly high at 49.2%, as compared to the national average of 23.3%, according to the National Family Health Survey-V (2019-21).
Pandit Buddhinath believes that, as a faith leader, his duty is not only to perform rituals and share scriptures but also to help create a better society.
“No religion in the world supports child marriage, and it is our responsibility to make that message clear,” he stresses. He never performs a wedding without verifying the age of the bride and groom with proper documents, he says.
This story is from the September 18, 2025 edition of The Morning Standard.
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