No child's play this, but govt looks away

JAIPUR: Resplendent in a red turban, a plume and a crest adorning it, the groom sits on a pedestal in a Rajasthani home on the Jaipur-Ajmer road on Thursday.
Weddings such as these are most auspicious when they fall on Aakha Teej or Akshaya Tritiya. Except that in this case it''s completely illegal because the baby-faced groom looks barely 15.
Despite the weight of the law and the probing eyes of social reformers, child marriages took place in secret throughout Rajasthan and western Madhya Pradesh away from the glare, pomp and paegeantry of the thousands of other Hindu weddings, including Virendra Sehwag''s in Delhi.
In Bangalore, women dragged their husbands out to jewellry stores which stayed open past normal shopping hours. “My wedding is in June, but I am buying all my gold today and I hope gold will keep coming to me all year, “ said Divya Govind, who, like many others in south India believes it is an auspicious day to buy gold.
Several hundred child marriages were performed throughout Rajasthan. With Lok Sabha elections due on May 5 the state administration did little that could provoke the community''s anger.
Like previous years, there were no arrest of parents involved in organising these events that appeared to enjoy the blessing of the local Rajasthani villagers.
Aware of legal repurcussions, villagers kept away not only social activists but also reporters and photographers. As far as the state was concerned, there wasn''t much worry because the only thing it did was to have the women and child department conduct a ritual awareness campaign against child marriage.
According to reports, over half a dozen child marriages were performed in Jhalrapatan area of Jhalawar, which is the constituency of chief minister Vasundhara Raje. Most children who were married off were in the 10-15 age group.
In one village on the Jaipur-Kota highway, three minor girls were married off.