JUMLA, Feb. 24 -- Manita Nepali of Guthichaur Rural Municipality-4 got married at the tender age of 16. She delivered her first child when she was eighteen years old. "We had tied the nuptial knot by running away from home. There is no fault of our families in this," she said.

As youths in the rural parts are unaware that it is illegal to get married before 20 years, most of them get married while in school. Following in the footsteps of her friends, Manita, too got married early. But she says she, too, was unaware that she was breaching the law by getting married to her lover. "Only now, local units have been introducing new policies to discourage child marriage. This might put an end to this ill practice,"Similarly, now 19 years old, B...