SOCIETY

Child marriages passed off as engagements in Rajasthan

     Mohammadgarh (Rajasthan): Despite being illegal, child marriages are common in some parts of Rajasthan. Officials turn a blind eye, and people are too orthodox to change. Akha Teej or Akhsya Tritya is a time of rejoicing in the state. It is also the most auspicious day for marriages. On this day, practically everywhere in western Rajasthan, Bikaner, Tonk, Jhalwar, Jodhpur, and Jaisalmer, marriages are performed en masse. Every street, house, tractor and even buses seem to reverberate with music and the cackle of gorgeously dressed marriage guests. In almost all marriages the bride and the groom are children, some just two or three years old and some, babies barely able to walk. These brides and grooms are carried by their parents or are perched on a thali and taken round the holy fire for performing the most important ceremony of their life. The child brides or grooms may not understand the solemnity of these ceremonies, but for the elders it is the safest and most tested way of keeping property and money within the family. Innocent children become pawns in the family business. As always this year too, hundreds of children were tied in a nuptial knot, illegally across the state on May 11 on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya. One such town was Mohammadgarh village in Tonk district, where marriage processions were held with great enthusiasm as the weddings were performed according to custom. Young children, many of them in their teens, were made to go through rituals, which probably most of them did not even understand. The relatives denied carrying out the marriages. They insisted that the children were just getting engaged to each other. "Since it is difficult to find brides once they are grown up, we conduct the marriages. We don't marry young children. Children just get engaged to each other," said Babloo. "For the engagement, we match boys and girls. Though the rituals have changed with times, most of it still remains the same," said Nane Khan. The Indian Child Marriage (Prevention) Act terms wedding of boys less than 21 years and girls less than 18 as illegal. The law is applicable to members of all Indian communities and offending parents can be punished to undergo jail terms for upto two years. The law is ineffective because of loopholes. It has provision to punish the parents of the minor children entering into marriage, but no provision to nullify such marriages. Ironically child marriages are rampant in a state where the Child Marriages Restraint Act, popularly known as the Sharda Act, was first conceived. Sri Harvilas Sharda, who had given concrete shape to Sharda Act, was a native of Ajmer in Rajasthan. Of course, every year routine appeals for not performing child marriages are issued by the State Government and non governmental organisations. Sathins, aaganwadi workers, social organizations and the police are alerted and asked to take preventive measures. Yet the baarat with the baby groom arrives for the toddler bahu unfailingly.
-May 12, 2005

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