Our Udaan project has a huge mission to end child marriage within Maharashtra by 2027. Despite our commitment and a proven track record in preventing exploitation of women and children, we cannot do this alone. The following updates from Udaan highlight the role everyone in society can play in helping us to identify those at risk and put an end to one of the most prevalent abuse of children’s rights in India today.
Intergenerational cycle
The impact of child marriage is not always limited to the life of a girl rescued, in some cases it is the continuation of a vicious cycle crossing generations of women. All too often we experience that a rescued girl comes from a family that has endured the practice for decades.
One recent case highlights the heartbreaking story of three generations.
The unfortunate story of this family began when the mother of our rescued girl was herself married at age 14. She endured her relationship with an alcoholic husband while determinedly ensuring the education of her son and daughter. She had only one wish - her daughter's life should be better than hers.
Despite her best efforts, the 17 year old girl’s father found a groom for his daughter. History repeated itself once again with the husband turning out to be addicted to alcohol. This made him violent with his bride enduring constant beatings and torture. Eventually she fell pregnant and her husband ran away from the responsibility. The girl then became further victimised as her community and family blamed her for her husband’s abandonment.
To help ease the situation, her father took a loan in his name and tried to make her feel better by buying her expensive presents. However, without the emotional family support for her pregnancy and feeling hopeless, the girl’s mother decided to offer her help by giving her pills to abort her one and a half month’s old fetus. This ramifications of this decision were a huge blow to the girl’s mental state.
Fortunately, the girl and her mother turned to our Snehadhar Project and once we learned the girl was a child bride, meaning her marriage was illegal, she was referred to or Udaan project for justice. Both mother and child received intensive counselling and a case was registered under sections 9, 10, 11 of the Prevention of Child Marriage Act 2006 and 4, 6, 8 and 12 of the Protection of Child Sexual Abuse (POCSO) Act 2012 and under sections 64 (2)(m) and 115 of the Indian Penal Code.
Once the case was registered, she was immediately given a medical examination and then relocated to a safe place in a government children's home where she is now undergoing counselling and continuing her education.
This story highlights intergenerational victimization; the uneducated mother who was a child bride, her daughter who suffered the same fate and the daughter’s unborn child. Cases have now been filed against the girl’s husband, parents and the marriage matchmakers. This incident not only brought justice to the girl, but through sharing this story gives our wider society an opportunity to recognise the dangers and injustice of child marriage.
Vigilance
After 22 years of trying for a child, the birth of a daughter was a moment of joy for her family. However, the parents were getting older and their financial situation was very poor. The untimely death of her mother when the daughter was 10 and the deteriorating health of her elderly father added to the girl’s challenging conditions, eroding the innocence of her childhood. With her father's constant illness, she did not receive the proper love and support he needed and her grandparents and relatives took on the responsibility of raising her.
Despite this, her determination to finish her education never weakened and her dreams of building her own future looked good when she joined the ashram school. However, her own health issues and financial difficulties meant she fell behind in her studies, failing three subjects in the 10th standard examination. The constant feeling of shame of failure and the financial burden of the family threatened to close the door to her education.
During the school holidays, her family came together for the wedding of her maternal uncle. Her relatives decided, given her poor financial resources, no mother, a sick father and her falling behind in her education, to marry her off — she was left with no right to decide her own future.
During the uncle's wedding, she was also forced by the family to marry a young man. She was threatened that she and her family would be killed if she refused and she had to forcefully "nod" in agreement to her marriage against her will.
Already traumatized by threats, marriage to a stranger and the end of her education and free will, the torture became even more serious after marriage. Her husband constantly harassed her mentally and physically, forcing her into sex against her will. If she resisted, she was abused, beaten and threatened. Her mental health was in and she was completely devastated by her situation.
Seeing her depression, her aunt sought the help of our Udaan Project. Initially, the girl was completely lost—her mental balance had been shaken, and her self-confidence was destroyed. Our Udaan team reassured her, understood her pain and counseled her, motivating her to stand up against injustice. She filed a complaint against her husband and other culprits at the Rahuri Police Station. Cases were registered against her under the Child Marriage Prevention Act and the POCSO Act for the abuse she suffered. She has now started a new chapter in her life, rejoining her path of education and self-respect.
This story highlights how easy it is for a girl to lose her freedom, education and the right to make her own decisions. Unfortunately no-one was there to protect her from her own relatives, we need teachers, school administration and society need to work together. School teachers and administrations need to constantly monitor and follow up on girls’ progress to ensure they are fully supported and should be vigilant about absences from the classroom.
In this and many other cases the marriage and abuse could have been prevented with guidance and motivation from education professionals, they need to ensure their support extends beyond simply passing exams, by being able to identify at risk children and signpost them to support mechanisms such as Snehalaya.
Registering absence
The following story highlights the importance of schools in preventing child marriage and the impact the diligence of teachers can have.
A brave 16-year-old girl, dreamed of a bright future following her education. Although she was born poor, her dreams were big. However, while visiting her maternal uncle's village during Diwali holidays, a dark cloud was looming over this future when she discovered her marriage had been arranged. Suddenly it seemed her dream would end behind four walls in a closed house.
When school reopened after the holidays, her teachers called her home to find out why she was absent. They were told that her wedding was taking place that very same day. As soon as the teachers heard this, they contacted our Udaan team. We immediately took action to stop the marriage.
However, it wasn’t straightforward and the team faced many obstacles from the family and local authorities, taking enormous risks to save the girl’s future. After two days of searching, finding out the reasons behind her mother's decision and understanding the depth of her poverty, they finally gained the girl’s mother’s trust and cooperation. With her help, the team was able to locate her and stop the marriage.
Since then we have supported the girl to become self-reliant, training her in computers, tailoring and bakery products. She has continued her education through these skills while also preparing for her 11th standard exams.
Showing strength and determination beyond her years, she is now playing an important role not only in her own education but also in the education of her younger siblings. She is working with our Udaan team to help her father lick his addictions and has become an inspiring member of the Udaan family working in awareness programs to prevent child marriage.
If you think you or someone you know is at risk of child marriage, don’t hesitate, call our Udaan 24/7 confidential helpline now: 9011026495.
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