New Delhi, May 5 (IANS): A child rights' group said on Friday that it prevented 26 child marriages in Jharkhand in just one week.

Most of the children who were to be married were between the age of 12 and 15 years while the youngest was 11 years old, the Kailsh Satyarthi Children's Foundation said. 

"All the girls were getting married to men who were double the age," said a statement from the Foundation headed by the Nobel Laureate. 

"Timely intervention helped these children, who are unprepared to bear either the burden of marital responsibility or childbearing, from the clutches of illegal child marriage."

It said that although child marriages were banned in Jharkhand, they were rampant.

According to the Annual Health Survey of 2010-11, Jharkhand ranks third after Bihar and Rajasthan with 51.8 per cent girls married at less than 18 years of age. 

The Foundation said preventing child marriage was a priority for it. "It has done through a unique model of intervention by creating child leaders in affected villages who bring to notice such offences."