 "Rescuing children from the knot")
It wasn't the 18th birthday present that Laxmi Sargara had hoped for. Instead of birthday greetings, the Jodhpur teenager learnt that around her first birthday, her parents had married her off to a three-year-old. Unprepared to "honour" the commitment that she had nothing to do with, Sargara ran away from home and sought the help of Kriti Bharti, founder of NGO Saarthi Trust.
In 2012, when she became the first Indian woman to successfully have her marriage as a child annulled, Sargara drew national and international attention on a regressive practice that has continued in many parts of rural India long after the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006.
The fact is that even today nearly half of the world's child marriages occur in India. Demographers link age at marriage to adverse demographic indicators like maternal and infant mortality. Bharti, a psychologist and counsellor, focuses on the trauma victims face at this violation of their childhoods. By helping victims have their marriages annulled, Saarthi Trust is enabling them to reclaim their future.
Lack of field awareness is a contributing factor. "The government runs a child protection helpline and an awareness campaign only during the time of Akha Teej (around April-May every year) - the most publicised time for child marriages," she says. "However, in rural Rajasthan, child marriages take place the year round and not just during one specific festival." Bharti quotes the example of Mausar, the communal funerary feast, when it is considered acceptable to marry off a child from the deceased's family. "To date, children are being married off all year round during Mausar," says Bharti.
Instead, Saarthi Trust has focused on the cure: annulling preexisting child marriages. "The law is ambivalent on the legality of the marriage of a minor with parental consent," she says. Ideally, all marriages of minors should be held null and void as a matter of course. "Instead, only marriages without parental consent or under coercion are legally invalid," Bharti says. This has made Saarthi Trust's battle for annulment of child marriages pathbreaking - and backbreaking.
Legally, child marriages are annulled in the same painful way as adult marriages. There is no set process for these cases, and sometimes they tend to drag on. "Such cases should be resolved in less than three months as they're stressful for the children concerned," says Bharti. It's not as if this isn't possible. Saarthi Trust counselled two families this year and with mutual consent got two child marriages annulled in three days. "We believe that magistrates also need special training to deal sensitively with juvenile victims," says Bharti.
The single most important factor in child marriage annulment is support for the families concerned. "With counselling, most parents understand why their child must be freed from the burden of an early marriage. But they need help to face social approbation and sanctions, especially from the jati panchayats (caste councils)," says Bharti. Earlier this year, when Jodhpur teenager Santadevi Meghwal wanted to annul her marriage, which was performed when she was merely 11 months old, the jati panchayat imposed a fine of Rs 16 lakh on her family.
Saarthi Trust runs a helpline (7891022224) and organises orientation camps to sensitise villagers about child marriage across Rajasthan. "It's at these camps usually that we identify child marriage victims," says Bharti. Yet, fighting age-old traditions in villages is hard. Not only does Bharti, who is all of 28, routinely receive threats from individuals as well as the jati panchayats, local support has also proven hard to garner. The NGO, which now has eight staffers, has few individual donors. Bharti mostly dips into her savings to run it.
Yet, she has big dreams for the future. "We're batting at 29," she says, referring to the number of child marriages annulled. "I'm aiming to hit a century in two years." She believes that organisations such as Saarthi Trust will eventually create awareness about the pitfalls of child marriage in Rajasthan's villages.
Meanwhile, Sargara is married to a man of her choice and Meghwal is dreaming of becoming a teacher. Bharti says, "At the end of the day, we must realise that these children aren't just the responsibility of their impoverished parents. The government, teachers, social workers and members of the civil society must come together to secure their future."
For more, visit www.saarthitrust.com or its page on Facebook
Next fortnight, an organisation that uses theatre to rehabilitate children living on Delhi's mean streets
In 2012, when she became the first Indian woman to successfully have her marriage as a child annulled, Sargara drew national and international attention on a regressive practice that has continued in many parts of rural India long after the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006.
The fact is that even today nearly half of the world's child marriages occur in India. Demographers link age at marriage to adverse demographic indicators like maternal and infant mortality. Bharti, a psychologist and counsellor, focuses on the trauma victims face at this violation of their childhoods. By helping victims have their marriages annulled, Saarthi Trust is enabling them to reclaim their future.
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Set up in 2012, Saarthi Trust has been fighting for the rights of children and women at risk, whether they are victims of human trafficking, child labour or child marriage. Having enabled 29 annulments so far, Bharti believes that the law alone, toothless as it is, is never going to be enough to curb instances of child marriage. "Prevention and cure are two sides of the same coin when we set out to eradicate a disease," says Bharti. "In the case of child marriage, the state government machinery has focused almost entirely on preventing such marriages but has failed to make significant inroads."
Lack of field awareness is a contributing factor. "The government runs a child protection helpline and an awareness campaign only during the time of Akha Teej (around April-May every year) - the most publicised time for child marriages," she says. "However, in rural Rajasthan, child marriages take place the year round and not just during one specific festival." Bharti quotes the example of Mausar, the communal funerary feast, when it is considered acceptable to marry off a child from the deceased's family. "To date, children are being married off all year round during Mausar," says Bharti.
Instead, Saarthi Trust has focused on the cure: annulling preexisting child marriages. "The law is ambivalent on the legality of the marriage of a minor with parental consent," she says. Ideally, all marriages of minors should be held null and void as a matter of course. "Instead, only marriages without parental consent or under coercion are legally invalid," Bharti says. This has made Saarthi Trust's battle for annulment of child marriages pathbreaking - and backbreaking.
Legally, child marriages are annulled in the same painful way as adult marriages. There is no set process for these cases, and sometimes they tend to drag on. "Such cases should be resolved in less than three months as they're stressful for the children concerned," says Bharti. It's not as if this isn't possible. Saarthi Trust counselled two families this year and with mutual consent got two child marriages annulled in three days. "We believe that magistrates also need special training to deal sensitively with juvenile victims," says Bharti.
The single most important factor in child marriage annulment is support for the families concerned. "With counselling, most parents understand why their child must be freed from the burden of an early marriage. But they need help to face social approbation and sanctions, especially from the jati panchayats (caste councils)," says Bharti. Earlier this year, when Jodhpur teenager Santadevi Meghwal wanted to annul her marriage, which was performed when she was merely 11 months old, the jati panchayat imposed a fine of Rs 16 lakh on her family.
Saarthi Trust runs a helpline (7891022224) and organises orientation camps to sensitise villagers about child marriage across Rajasthan. "It's at these camps usually that we identify child marriage victims," says Bharti. Yet, fighting age-old traditions in villages is hard. Not only does Bharti, who is all of 28, routinely receive threats from individuals as well as the jati panchayats, local support has also proven hard to garner. The NGO, which now has eight staffers, has few individual donors. Bharti mostly dips into her savings to run it.
Yet, she has big dreams for the future. "We're batting at 29," she says, referring to the number of child marriages annulled. "I'm aiming to hit a century in two years." She believes that organisations such as Saarthi Trust will eventually create awareness about the pitfalls of child marriage in Rajasthan's villages.
Meanwhile, Sargara is married to a man of her choice and Meghwal is dreaming of becoming a teacher. Bharti says, "At the end of the day, we must realise that these children aren't just the responsibility of their impoverished parents. The government, teachers, social workers and members of the civil society must come together to secure their future."
For more, visit www.saarthitrust.com or its page on Facebook
Next fortnight, an organisation that uses theatre to rehabilitate children living on Delhi's mean streets