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Teenage girl fights early marriage, setting precedent in rural India
Published: 09 March, 2010, 08:25
Edited: 07 July, 2010, 02:36
Life in the Indian village of Bororola has been derailed after a 14-year old girl refused to be married off, opting to attend school instead. Her act of defiance has rippled through the village and throughout India.
no doubt india is a vibrant democracy but it is not true that rule of prevails everywhere. dowry is strictly prohibited as per rule of law. but the practice of dowry is very much in practice and dowry related deaths are also a regular feature. similarly early marriage of teenage girls are very much prevalent in many parts of our country. west bengal, although one of the highly socilllt and politically aware states of india is not free from this unlawful practice. only unfortunate part is that the economically backward and poorest of the poor class among whome most of the cases are found, always remian in the backyeard of our society and we do not consider them as the bonafide population of our democratic country. few days back one lucknow weekly has also published the story of such child marrigae in wb. we must not everything in te name of vibrant democracy.
Wow, someone's a bit oversensitive... the article pointed out that such marriages were not lawful and that they mostly took place in extremely poor, rural areas. The second commentor is correct; just because such things take place far from your cities doesn't mean they don't happen. And just because they're a small minority doesn't mean they don't matter. No 11 year old girl should be forced into marriage and then forced to try to have babies her body can't handle. Not even one. So quit defending your country and focus on what's important- helping people who only make $11USD a month to better provide for their families, so they don't "need" to practically sell their daughters.
Your story is really sensationalism at it’s best! Of course there are people who do stupid things in a population of 1.1 billion but to give it colour as if it is the norm that kids are regularly married off in India is absurd. At the beginning of the story your remarks “Her act of defiance has rippled through the village and throughout India” gives a false impression that such acts are happening everywhere in India and this girl is the first case to stand up to such practices. Right through the story the impression conveyed is that children are being married off in India as a regular practice. Nothing could be more removed from the truth. India is a vibrant democracy where the rule of law prevails. Such cases of underage marriage are rare and isolated. If your story had dared to quote figures you would have found the numbers miniscule. Furthermore, Indians still have the family fabric in place and marriage is not taken lightly. Unlike many other countries where teen pregnancy and crimes against children are now becoming a huge social problem (not to mention that girls and boys of 16 are allowed to marry) Indians still look after their children relatively better than many.