‘No Benefits’
He said 60,000 teenage pregnancies were reported in Bengal in the first six months of 2026, with Murshidabad (12,847) topping the list. “Between 15 and 17 (age group of teenage parents), 53% are Muslims. 53-plus. Can you marry off a 10 or 12-year-old girl?” he said.
It must be stopped,” Adhikari told reporters after a state cabinet meeting at Nabanna. The CM said everyone, irrespective of religion, has to face legal consequences for his or her act. The health department, Adhikari said, is issuing a show-cause letter to the “husband of each of them (underage wives)”. Referring to teenage pregnancies, the CM said, “All these are institutional deliveries. If they fail to prove within one month (of being issued the show-cause notice) that the wife was 18 and the husband 21 (at the time of marriage), especially the wife was 18, the DGP — he is standing right beside me — will act according to BNS. ” As for such couples’ entitlement to social benefits, he said, “They will not get govt benefits — pensions, allowances, nothing at all. Those who married while still underage… will go to jail under Pocso,” he said. Citing the high number of teenage pregnancies in the state in the first six months of this year, CM Adhikari said, “The number is so huge that our state doesn’t have that many jails.”
“The situation is terrible. We will certainly file specific cases and make arrests. There is no question of religion here — Muslim, Hindu, whoever… Are you allowed to do this? That is why we (Bengal) are first in teenage delivery and teenage marriage in India. Besides, cases will be registered suo motu against them under BNS…
They could have been caught earlier, but weren’t. Kolkata: Underage couples and parents will lose benefits from the govt’s welfare schemes and face penal action under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) as well as Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, CM Suvendu Adhikari said on Monday.
Adhikari’s statement marked a departure from the earlier govt policy of combating underage marriage with awareness campaign and targeted welfare schemes such as Kanyashree (renamed Kanya Ratna by the BJP govt), which provides direct cash transfers to school-going girls if they remain unmarried.