BENGALURU: What if the most important part of growing up is snatched away from you as if you didn’t deserve it? This is what child marriage does. It wipes out adolescence from a child’s life and pushes the child bride into womanhood and early motherhood. The New Indian Express met over 25 young women - all survivors of child marriage - at Kollegal in Chamarajanagar district, last weekend.
All of them were in their early 20s, had borne children at the age of 14 to 15 through C-section. One of them had lost her child a couple of days after childbirth. “The doctors told us we are very young to go through normal labour and delivery. It may jeopardise our life and that of the child,” almost all of them said in one voice, when asked about the need for C-Section.
To a question on whether the Auxiliary Nursing Midwifery (ANM) and hospital authorities brought the age of the mothers to the notice the district health authorities, the young mothers claimed that their age on the Thayi (Mother) card, issued under the Thayi Bhagya Scheme, was tampered with to show them as adults. “The ANMs changed our age to 20 or 21 on the Thayi card,” the women claimed.
Child marriage is prohibited under The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006 and is a punishable offence, but in the hinterland of Karnataka there are innumerable cases of minor girls from weak socio-economic backgrounds being pushed into marriage soon after they attain puberty.
‘Poverty key reason for child marriages’
In a recent survey on child marriage conducted between August 2021 and January 2022 in 17 gram panchayats in 44 villages in Chamarajanagar district by the Initiatives for Married Adolescent Girls Empowerment (IMAGE) 2.0 - a project supported by the Azim Premji Foundation (APF), “We found 530 cases of child marriages mainly from SC and ST communities,” said Project Director and Secretary, People’s Movement for Self-Reliance (PMSR), Adiss Arnold. IMAGE 2.0 is being implemented by PMSR and Child Rights Trust (CRT) provides technical and advocacy support.
“Poverty and illiteracy are the main reasons of child marriage in Chamarajanagar district. Parents, most of who are coolies, feel that once a girl attains puberty, she is safer in her husband’s house. Men in these communities prefer younger girls below the age of 18,” added Arnold. The myths and social practices prevalent in these communities are in stark contrast to the PCMA, which defines a child as a person who, if a male, has not completed 21 years of age, and if a female, has not completed 18 years of age.
But in these villages, it is the caste and community panchayats - kula- that hold sway. Sheela, from Hanur taluk, who was married at the age of 14, said she wanted to divorce her husband because of domestic violence and for that her parents have to pay Rs 2 lakh to the kula. “If we pay them money, they will ensure that my husband leaves me,” she said. “The kula verdict in the villages is final. The gram panchayats have little to no role. Almost 30 per cent of child marriages end up in divorce granted by the kula. Women spend their lives bringing up their children,” said Siddaraju of IMAGE. “Our parents got us married to men at least 10 years older than us. We were told to stay indoors, not talk to anyone, cook and look after the family. We wanted to go to school, play with our friends and dress up well,” said Savitha.
Latha (21), who got married at the age of 15 is a mother of two children aged six and four. Her alcoholic husband died by suicide some months ago, leaving her alone to fend for herself and the children.
“Government, community and the courts are now collaborating to end this social evil. Many of these early married women are being trained in skill and vocational training apart from education,” said Executive Director, CRT, Vasudeva Sharma NV.
(The names of child marriage survivors have been changed to protect identity)