Trafficking Girls in India: No Child’s Play

Covid school closures exacerbate the problem of illegal underage marriage

By: Neeta Lal

This summer, in the middle of the Covid-19 lockdown, Sita, 16, was married off to Bihari, her 35-year-old widowed neighbor in Patna, the capital city of Bihar, and one of India’s most backward states.

Sita’s parents thought the groom ticked all the right boxes for their school-going daughter. He had a steady income as a contractor, wasn’t …