JAIPUR: Within a week two minor girls from two districts succeeded in stopping their marriages, but while a 17-year-old girl from Jodhpur was taken home from the shelter by her parents, a 14-year-old child from Udaipur will remain in shelter as her parents fear their community will boycott them for bringing her home.
The Dangi community to which this minor belongs practices 'Aata saata' (exchange) system of marriages where a family enters an alliance of their daughter only when her would-be in-laws also pledge to give their daughter in marriage to her family.
The Udaipur girl was supposed to get married to a 26-year-old man under this centuries old exchange system. The other family that was supposed to get this minor as a bride may now force a caste panchayat dictat on her parents.
Sangeeta Beniwal chairperson, Rajasthan State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (RSCPCR) told TOI, "The girl from Udaipur was to get married to a man in return for which her uncle would get a bride from the same family. This is like an exchange system and when we tried to hand over the girl to the parents, their community members gathered. The family stated that they will be punished because their daughter called the child helpline to stop her wedding. We have brought her to the shelter and she will live there as long as her parents do not take her home. She will continue to go to school and has keen interest in studies."
The Dangi family is into farming and hails from Kurabad area in Udaipur district.
"The girl is a Class VII student and has three younger siblings. The parents claimed that child marriages are common in their community, so their daughter has no reason to object. Actually, there is less number of girls due to which they often get into Aata Saata system. We will try to counsel them further. This is quite common in this area as people lack awareness and want to continue with their way of things though we try to get them understand the harms of child marriage. Her uncle got married to the bride as promised by the other family who might be now building community pressure due to which the girl's parents also not taking her home," added an official of Child welfare committee (CWC), Udaipur.
Meanwhile, the minor from Nandri in Jodhpur who is five months short of turning 18 was taken home and an official of CWC, Jodhpur said, "Although the parents appeared to have understood that attempt to get their underage daughter get married is wrong, it has come to light that before the child called the helpline they had gotten her medical examination done to prove that she was an adult, which is technically against the law. For now they have said that they will not get her married and the child is also sensible as well as aware to where she can get help if required."
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