Dr Kriti Bharti, the Jodhpur warrior against child marriages
RAJASTHAN: This Christmas was special for Dr Kriti Bharti and her NGO, Saarthi Trust. In Jodhpur they arranged a gift for a ‘Balika Vadhu’ (child bride) named Nimbu: she was formally freed from the bondage of an unwanted child marriage after 18 long years. Nimbu’s fate was sealed by her Panches community when she was just two years old in 2002.
Nimbu, a resident of Baap tehsil of Jodhpur, was married off to a boy of Bikaner district. As she grew up, Nimbu wanted to get out of the bond. Several community leaders threatened to boycott her family from the community. Then she contacted Bharti to help her. She filed a case of child marriage annulment at a family court in Jodhpur with Bharti testifying on behalf of Nimbu about her age and marriage ceremony in the court. Nimbu’s marriage was finally annulled about a week ago.
Judge Mahendra Kumar Sinhal of Jodhpur’s Family Court No-1 in his order gave a strong message to society against such outdated practices. “This marriage had ruined me… Kriti Didi has given me a new life. I will now study and become a police officer,” says Nimbu. “We will make efforts for full rehabilitation of Nimbu,” says Bharti.
Decades after child marriage was recognised as a crime, such marriages are common in rural India. Hundreds of innocent girls continue to suffer. On ‘Aakha Teej’, considered the most auspicious day for weddings every year, underage children are married off in the name of tradition in Rajasthan with the authorities looking on helplessly.
Bharti herself had a traumatic childhood. Her father was a doctor who abandoned her mother even before Kriti was born. After her birth, she faced a lot of problems and had to discontinue her education, which she pursued much later. A disturbed childhood has transformed her into a fearless crusader. “It is just the beginning,” says Bharti, who has so far got more than 41 child marriages annulled. In fact, she and her Saarthi Trust got the first child marriage of the country set aside.
She started the Saarthi Trust in 2011 with the aim of bringing greater social justice for women. “After you stop a child marriage, the girl child is treated like a social outcast. It becomes important to rehabilitate her and help her become a part of the society,” says Bharti. The Saarthi Trust provides counseling to children, families and panchayats, and Bharti’s team takes charge of the rehabilitation of these children.
As annulment of a child’s marriage is not an easy task, Bharti and her team approach the girl’s parents and try to convince them against the marriage. In many cases the parents agree. They also approach the groom’s side. Getting the village elders to agree to this is often the most difficult task, as they believe that the community’s pride is at stake.
Bharti’s team of volunteers primarily works on two fronts. While one team actively works on the legal side to stop a marriage, the other team builds capacity to rehabilitate the child and provide her with a better future. This includes supporting her with education, vocational training and even employment opportunities in the future.
When a victim approaches her, Bharti tells her about a special condition for her support. “I tell them that they will have to restart their studies from wherever they had left off. Many victims are not too keen to study again, but when they realise that they may not get my help without restarting their education, they agree,” says Bharti.
“Once I take up a case, I feel it’s like taking somebody’s life in your hands. So I do all kinds of work to help them because in our legal system, there are people who try to drag issues, resulting in delayed verdicts.”Given her remarkable work, Bharti and her NGO have made several records which are now included in the Guinness World Records, India and the Limca Book of Records.
The CBSE has also included Saarthi’s campaign in the Class 11 syllabus. She has been included in the World Top Ten Activist List of Taff Magazine and the List of 100 Influential Women of BBC. She is also a recipient of Marwar and Mewar Ratna and many other national and international honours.
Despite her exceptional feats, Bharti gets little financial support either from the government or agencies like UNICEF. She is upset that donor agencies look at annual turnovers of institutions rather than the work on the ground.
Kriti Bharti has so far got over 41 child marriages annulled. Her NGO got the first child marriage of the country set aside | express
What does Saarthi Trust do?
Bharti’s team of volunteers primarily works on two fronts. While one team actively works on the legal side to stop a marriage, the other team builds capacity to rehabilitate the child and provide her with
a better future.