Girl, Married

NISHATH NIZAR

eZine, December 1

India is a land of a million cultures, traditions, beliefs and taboos. Child marriage is one of those seemingly strange rituals that seem to find no stoppage in growth in 21^st century modern India. Marriage in India is illegal under the age of 18 years for girls and under 21 years for boys. But the constitution of India has so many loopholes within itself, that according to statistics, more than 45% of marriages in India involve girls below the age of 18.

A walk into Nirmal Chhaya, a centre which consists of a welfare board for girls in the Tihar Jail complex, brings to us the stark reality of the number of girls that actually fall into the trap of early marriages.

Radhika (name changed) came to Delhi after youths lured her from her village in U.P. promising marriage and a good life. After coming to the capital, she was abandoned by the very people that promised her a new life, after she was found to be pregnant. When her parents came to know about this, they disowned her. Only one home took her in – the children’s home at Nirmal Chhaya.

Poonam Singh, a welfare officer at the children’s home at Nirmal Chayya says, “There are about 250 kids in this complex. There are kids from the 10 to 18 years of age. There are various cases that come to us – juvenile deliquence, parents abandoning their kids, young girls who are forced into marriage”.

Cases from within Delhi are very few in number when compared to the number of girls coming in from the villages of U.P, Bihar and even West Bengal.

At the children’s home, Lakshmi’s (name changed) parents have come down from Siwan to take her back home. But she doesn’t wish to leave Nirmal Chhaya. She is a very bright student and Nirmal Chhaya has been providing the education she was denied back home. The complex is visited by Subakshika, an NGO that provides schooling to the children for all grades. The psychological impact of a disturbed child is very difficult to read. (Play audio for more on the psychology behind child marriages in delhi)

Since the belief of child marriages are deeply rooted in Indian culture, one needs to sow the seeds of change and real knowledge within their own society and community.