Teenage pregnancy is a dark reality for residents of tribal hamlets in Pen and nearby talukas of Raigad district, where every month on an average five-10 minor girls in the age group of 12 to 17 years are becoming pregnant —a fact that comes to light when they miss their menstrual cycle and visit the primary health centre or rural hospital, where tests confirm pregnancy.

The irony is that most of the girls are either school or junior college students, and their partners are youths barely older than them. Sex with a minor is an offence under the POCSO Act and though the police in a few cases register an FIR, pressure is built on the survivor’s parents to not register the case, or settle the issue by getting the accused married to the girl—thereby encouraging child marriage, which is also an offence under the law.