Rajasthan: Teenager faces panchayat wrath for defying her child marriage
Jaipur: A 17-year-old girl from Rajasthan's Buchakla village, who refused to recognise her child marriage faced the wrath of the panchayat, who issued a diktat that she either move to her in-laws' house or pay Rs 9 lakh as penalty.
The minor girl (name withheld), who was married off at the age of eight, has sought help from the district collector of Jodhpur, stating in her letter that she was a child at the time of marriage and was unaware of what it really meant.
“I cried a lot but my parents convinced me that they were not sending me. About two years ago, my in-laws started putting pressure on my parents to send me with them but the matter lingered on," she said while refusing to accept the marriage. “I didn’t even know at that time what marriage meant,” she said.
The teenager, who was a resident of Buchakla village in Pipar near Jodhpur, was married to Madhuram of Kheda Salvan Kalan in 2007. Last month, about 50 elderly people from their community came to her house and told her father that either send the girl to her in-laws or pay the penalty of Rs 9 lakh, failing which the family would be ostracized.
Because of the mounting pressure, the girl initially agreed to go, but when her in-laws came to take her, she conveyed her wish to complete her studies. Her in-laws wanted to her to work in the fields instead. Her father supported her decision of completing her education and refused to send her.
The family requested the collector for action against the caste panchayat and bind her in-laws not to pressurise her family for the gauna (ceremony where the bride sent to her in-laws place). She also has filed for the annulment of her marriage with the help of a voluntary organization Vikalp, who have accommodated her in Udaipur in order to keep her away from the threats and pressure from her in-laws and the panchayat.
The girl has recently appeared for senior secondary examination and has also written papers for Basic School Teacher Course (BSTC). "I want to pursue studies further and want to become a teacher," she said.
