While districts in Bundelkhand, central Madhya Pradesh, the Gwalior–Chambal region, and some tribal-dominated areas reported the highest number of cases, Damoh district in Bundelkhand has emerged as the biggest hotspot, recording 115 child marriages in 2025. This accounts for 21% of all cases reported in the state this year. The district had earlier reported 69 such marriages in 2021, 64 in 2022, 39 in 2023, and 33 in 2024.

Other districts reporting a significant number of child marriages this year include Rajgarh (44), Chhatarpur (35), Guna (28), Sagar (24), Dewas (24), and Narsinghpur (23).

The 115 cases reported in Damoh this year mark the first instance in five years of any district crossing the three-digit mark. Before this, the highest figure was 87 cases reported in Rajgarh in 2023. Damoh had also recorded the highest number of such cases in 2021 and 2022.

Sagar district, also part of Bundelkhand, continues to report a substantial number of underage marriages: 48 in 2020, 33 in 2021, 27 in 2022, 36 in 2023, and 34 in 2024.

Although the figures were shared by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department in the Vidhan Sabha, the state’s WCD Minister Nirmala Bhuria told journalists that she had “no such information.”

“No such question was raised in the Vidhan Sabha. I don’t have any such information. I’ll find out from where the opposition obtained these figures,” she said, despite the data being part of the House proceedings.

Bhuria’s home district, the Bhil-dominated Jhabua, reported 68 child marriages in the last five years, while neighbouring Alirajpur, dominated by the Bhilala tribe, reported just seven cases since 2020.

Reacting to the data, Congress MLA Jaivardhan Singh slammed the government. “In response to my question, the government claimed on Tuesday that public awareness on the issue is growing. But the continuously rising figures shared by the department itself paint a picture contrary to the government’s claims,” he said.