Child marriage: A social evil that persists despite a law to root it out

Many young people are flocking to Jodhpur to get their child marriage annulled

Meet 18-year-old Guddi. When she was three, her father, in a drunken fit, decided to get her married off. As the years went by, it became evident that Guddi had special needs. “When I turned 15, the boy’s family said I was old enough to come and live with them,” she says. By now her father was dead and luckily for Guddi, her mother, Dhapu Devi, intervened. “While my husband was alive I had no say in anything,” says Devi. “With him gone, I wasn’t going to send my little girl off like this.” The mother-daughter duo found the courage