On meeting a Child woman
Though child marriages in India has been prohibited under the Child Marriage Act, 2006, it is still practised in many parts of India more particularly in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. The thoughts of being punished by the law do not deter them.
When I visited Rajasthan for the first time I was shocked to meet little girls of less than ten years already married and staying in the parental house to 'learn the so called household works'. It was so ridiculous seeing these little girls living like that, they were not even attending schools which was located in the village itself. These girls were married off on the same day their elder sisters were married off. It is a tradition in Rajasthan to marry off sisters of one family to the brothers of another family on the same day. This is done to reduce the marriage expenses.Unfortunately, usually the brides are so young that they are not even aware of what is happening to even protest about it.
After the marriage, the eldest daughter would leave for her in law's house but the younger daughters would usually stay back to be 'trained in household work' for few more years. But the parents would be compelled to send her for few days in her husband's house if he so desires.
I once came across one such child woman in a remote village of Rajasthan. Only sixteen years of age at that time, she was already a mother of three year old son. As per the tradition, she was married off on the same day as three of her elder sisters. She was only three years of age at the time of marriage. She came to live in her husband house when she was around twelve years of age, but was not mentally prepared to raise a family. Things worsened after the birth of her son and she found it difficult to deal with her wailing son or her unapproving family members. She preferred the company of girls of her age who were yet to live in their husband's house. And for all the laughters and the good times that she wanted to share with them, she was labelled a misfit woman by others. Some even went to the extent of questioning her character. She was not the only one. There were many others like her who were trying to come in terms with their lost childhood and innocence...
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