RAJAMAHENDRAVARAM: In a country where social evils still lurk and grab hold of innocent lives, a 13-year-old braved her family and societal pressures to fight and escape from child marriage and contacted the District Collector through Facebook.
The incident took place in Eluru, where the parents of the victim forcefully tried to marry her off to a person belonging to the same city.
However, with the intervention of Collector Y Prasanna Venkatesh, the girl was rescued from the marriage.
According to the reports, the girl belonging to a tribal community, has been living with her grandmother and grandfather in Eluru city. After losing her father, her mother left the town marrying another person, forcing the girl to live with her grandparents, who are eking out their living by working as agriculture labourers.
Facing hardships to run the family, the family planned to perform the marriage of their granddaughter within four to five days. Not willing to get married, the victim, with the help of her friends, sent a message to the district Collector through Facebook and requested him to interfere.
On receiving the information, the Collector immediately responded and directed the district Child Protection officer CH Surya Chakraveni and Child helpline staff Rajesh, Srikanth, Raju, Prasad and Sunitha to take all possible measures to stop the marriage.
A team led by Surya Chakraveni rushed to the girl’s house and held talks with her elders. They brought all the family members to the Collector, gave counselling, and made them to withdraw the marriage proposal.
The Collector also went to the girls' school and enquired about the girl’s performance in the class. The Collector presented a bicycle, school bag, uniform, and books to the girl. He further assured that the State government would stand by her to provide all kinds of financial help to pursue her studies.
Speaking to the newspaper, Collector Y Prasanna Venkatesh said that the State government has decided to have a focussed approach involving all the stakeholders, including government functionaries and civil society organisations, to put an end to the social evil and making the State a Child marriage-free Andhra Pradesh.
He said our society and government agencies should be more vigilant during the months of Sravanam, Kartikam, Margasira and Magha months, which have a large scope for mass solemnization of marriages so as to prevent child marriages.