Child brides dare to annul illegal nuptials

Jaipur: In 1992, Bhanwari Devi, a saathin (friend) of the state government’s Women’s Development Programme (WDP), was allegedly gangraped for trying to stop a child marriage in her village. While Bhanwari is fighting to get justice as her appeal in the Rajasthan high court against acquittal of the accused is still pending, she may find solace in the changing scenario in the state.

Child marriages still take place in the state, albeit discreetly and secretly. Though the number of such marriages has reduced by half in the past one decade, they still take place.

An encouraging aspect of the crusade against this social evil is that now children, especially girls, have begun to stand up against these illegal nuptials and annulling their marriages in courts. And, unlike in the past, the government agencies have been taking swift action on receiving a complaint.

The children are using all available channels to stop their parents from marrying them off at a tender age. They have been calling child helplines, taking the help of their friends and social workers and, sometimes, even approaching the police to prevent their marriages.

Kota’s Bharti is among one such brave girl.  Her parents, brother and maternal uncle were putting pressure on her to marry even though she was eight months short of the legal age for marriage. Not one to lose heart, she approached the district collector’s office, which not only restrained her parents, but also provided her police protection.

Similarly, Shalu Saini, 17, from Bharatpur sent a petition to the superintendent of police in February this year claiming that her parents wanted to marry her off. She told the SP that she wanted to study. Again, the police took prompt action. According to 2011 Census, 1.6 million children were married in Rajasthan between 2000 and 2010. During this period, 31.6 per cent of girls in Rajasthan were married before the age of 18  and 35.7 per cent of the men got married before they turned 21. The latest National Family Health Survey showed that 6.3 per cent of the women, aged between 15 and 19, are already mothers or have been pregnant once.

Manju, who lived in a slum in Jaipur, was saved by her classmates after she stopped coming to school and forcibly taken away by her in-laws. The children got help from the state legal service authority and police.

With a little help from NGOs, an increasing number of children have been taking legal course to set themselves free from the bonds of child marriage. Only last week, in an interesting case Sushila Bishnoi, 19, of Barmer appealed to a court to dissolve her underage marriage. But her husband denied the couple was ever betrothed, threatening to scuttle her case. However, Ms Bishnoi used her husband’s Facebook account to prove that their marriage occurred when she was underage.

“Many of his friends had posted congratulatory messages on his Facebook page. The court accepted the evidence and declared the marriage invalid,” said Kriti Bharti, an activist whose Sarathi Trust charity has helped annul 32 child marriages in past five years in Rajasthan.

Now, the Supreme Court ruling that sex with minor wife would be considered rape has added stronger punch to the efforts against child marriage.

“I have come across two such cases, where minor girls were sexually abused by their husbands. But since no such law existed then, the girls suffered the trauma and the husbands went scot-free,” said Ms Bharti, who welcomed the apex court decision.

Lone warrior

• Activist Kriti Bharti, 29, has achieved the unbelievable in a short span of six years
• The founder of Saarthi Trust has helped annul 32 child marriages and prevented another 1,000 from taking place since 2011
• A rehabilitation psychologist, Ms Bharti’s work has found mention in CBSE curriculum for school students
• During her college days, she started counselling rape victims