MP child bride refuses to marry illiterate fiance

Bhopal: A woman in a Madhya Pradesh village has refused to marry her fiancé, who she had been engaged to when she was barely six years old, for being uneducated, inviting the wrath of the local khap panchayat.

Pappi Tanwar, resident of Padiya village under Rajgarh district, has moved the state women’s commission alleging harassment by the panchayat at the behest of her former fiance’s family for spurning him and tying the knot with another man after paying the “Jhagda money” — the penalty imposed by the panchayat on the bride or groom which opts out of an engagement, official sources said.

The woman had said in her complaint that she has a BSc degree, but her fiancé was illiterate.

As per “Jhagda” tradition of her clan, her family needed to a pay penalty called “Jhagda money” to the groom’s family for breaking the engagement.

She however defied the archaic tradition by moving the court against the penalty imposed on her family by the Khap panchayat.

However, bowing down to the pressure by the panchayat, her father decided to pay Rs 1.5 lakh as "Jhagda money" to the groom’s family to settle the issue.

She was also forced to withdraw the case from the court. She later married another man who ran computer business.

The groom’s family has allegedly made a fresh demand of Rs 3 lakh from her family, forcing her to approach the state women commission to come to her rescue.