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Journalism of Courage
A new army is getting ready to battle child marriages across Rajasthan. In many villages around Jaipur, the Mali community has taken an oath to end the practice and are gearing up to socially boycott anyone involved in child marriages.
At a recent meeting, hundreds of villagers pledged that they would not be part of any child marriage, vowing at the same time not to organise elaborate death ceremonies or mrityubhogs.
‘‘It is going to be very difficult, but we are going to try,’’ says Shivram Mali, sarpanch of Kot Khavda village, which is dominated by Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes (including the Malis). Admitting that people still get their young daughters married off on the sly, Mali adds: ‘‘We are also bracing for a backlash where those who protest or complain will be ostracised. But that’s a risk we have to take.’’
Spearheading the campaign is retired bureaucrat Satyanarayan Singh. ‘‘We tried everything, from trying to educate them to threatening them. But nothing really works. These things are deep-rooted. A social boycott is our last resort.’’
On paper, there is no record of recent child marriages in the state. Off the record, in a teashop near Kot Khavda, wisened old men scratch their beards and tell you stories of unborn children being engaged and toddlers being married off.
A kilometre away, a 13-year-old, busily filling drinking water in her pots in Charondiwali Dhani, says she has been married for five years and has spent the last two years with her in-laws. She has never been to school and in a drab monotone describes all the chores she is expected to do at home.
‘‘The villagers are poor. So they get all their daughters married off in one go, with one ceremony,’’ explains Babu Lal Vijay. ‘‘So when the eldest, eligible daughter gets married, the younger ones also tie the knot.’’
Mali adds: ‘‘Also, if the girl is educated, it is not easy to find a groom. Since most villagers do not like to marry their girls into urban families, we have to do it within the community and that means not so literate grooms. Hence, parents prefer to get their girls married young.’’
‘‘Of course it happens, not as much as before but every once in a while it does,’’ admits Babu Lal Saini, sarpanch of Rupvadi Kala village. ‘‘Everyone becomes part of the conspiracy. Nobody reports it or talks about it. So there is no action taken and by the time the news gets around, the marriage has already been solemnised.’’
The law doesn’t help either. According to the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, a guilty person is liable to simple imprisonment that may extend up to 15 days and a fine of up to Rs 1,000. The state government has submitted a proposal to the Centre suggesting a few amendments to the old Act, but nobody knows what happened to it.
‘‘It is a weak law and nobody is implementing it,’’ says activist Renuka Pameja. ‘‘There is no reliable data available, nobody is reporting these things and so they continue.’’
