Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said that child brides from the state were sold in Rajasthan and Gujarat. This came from Fadnavis in a written answer to a question on child brides and women trafficking raised by Legislative Council member Mahadev Jankar.

A child bride is a girl under the age of 18 who is married off to an adult man. This practice is a crime in India. Fadnavis said, “As many as 24 criminal cases have been filed for the alleged kidnapping of women and child brides on the pretext of marriage in January this year. In 2021 calendar year, 448 accused persons were arrested.”? The deputy CM said that poor women and child brides from the state were sold in Rajasthan and Gujarat.