BIDAR, KALABURAGI : This girl, who is 14 years old and studying in 9th standard at a village in Basavakalyan taluk, has become a role model for other minor girls in protecting themselves from child marriage.
The girl, who spoke to this correspondent over the phone, said poverty made her mother marry off her three elder sisters a few years ago. As she had seen the health complications her sisters suffered, she knew that child marriage is bad for underage girls, she said.
Her father died a few years ago and the mother, who is a farm labourer, is the sole breadwinner of the family of four girls and a boy.
Her mother let the girl study because of government benefits. But poverty forced the family to fix her marriage to one of her nine maternal uncles, who is 25 years old. The man too accepted the proposal. But the girl opposed it and told her mother and uncle that she will not get married till she becomes an adult and stands on her own feet. But they did not pay heed and went ahead with marriage preparations.
Minor girl to get Rs 4K/ month
The girl remembered that recently in her school, Shashidhar Kosambe, a member of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, had advised students to contact the child rights protection cell if any of them faced harassment by anybody and had given the child helpline number.
The girl contacted the helpline on Saturday, and it was brought to the notice of Kosambe. On Sunday, he rushed to the village with Tahsildar Dattatreya Gada, taluk panchayat CEO Ramesh Sulphi, CDPO Goutam Sindhe, BEO Shivarudraiah, PSI Jayashri and Child Protection Officer Gourishankar Partapur.
The team met the girl’s mother, uncle and elders of the village. They convinced the family about the ill-effects of child marriage and cautioned that they will face legal consequences if the marriage is performed. The team took an undertaking from the mother not to marry off the girl till she becomes an adult.
The team felicitated the girl. Kosambe directed the district child protection unit to give Rs 4,000 every month to her. The girl said, “I want to become a police officer to help our village.”