Marriages Between Close Relatives

Marriages between close relatives still prevail despite awareness

Jul 23, 2014, 12.33AM IST TNN[ Gokul Rajendran ]



TRICHY: Marriages among close relatives continue to prevail in the district despite awareness being spread about children born with disabilities in many cases.

Speaking on the sidelines of a medical camp for the differently-abled in the city on Monday, district collector Jayashree Muralidharan said that those who prefer to marry between close relatives should contemplate about the future consequences before such marriages take place. "It is also a fact that people should still be instilled awareness about the possibilities of their children contracting hereditary diseases," the collector said.

In a sense, it is evident from the fact that the previous trend was a clear indication that marriages between close relatives resulted in the birth of disabled children. Further, Trichy district found 2,833 differently-abled children in medical camps held in 2013-14 and half of the cases seemed to be the fallout of marriage between close relatives.

Medical experts expressed concern over the fact that this kind of trend is still continuing besides vast awareness. "The fact is that in some cases only, children with disabilities are born while many people who married within close relatives have healthy babies. So, we cannot come to any concrete decision as far as the marriages between close relatives are concerned," said neurologist Dr M A Aleem, vice-principal of K A P Viswanatham Government Medical College, Trichy. However, he attributed the disability to hereditary diseases. "If any one from either families have been affected with diseases in the past, chances are high for the children to contract them," said Dr Aleem.

Meanwhile, some medical experts say that people are well aware of the fact about the consequences of marriages taking place between close relatives. "People are very cautious in selecting their life partners. Unlike their ancestors, people nowadays want to have one or two children, since they don't want to give birth to disabled children by marrying close relatives," said Dr M Nagamani, obstetrician and gynaecologist.

District social welfare officer (DSWO) M Usha said that the practice is still continuing mostly in rural parts of the district. "Parents in rural areas prefer marriage between close relations like first cousins to avoid the gap between their brothers and sisters. Despite creating awareness about the possibilities of children being born with disabilities, they don't mind it. Also, some people eyeing properties of close relatives force their sons or daughters to marry their cousins," Usha told TOI.