Indian Express    
                          Wednesday, May 12, 1999
                                      
         Poverty, ignorance fuel child marriages in Andhra district
                             S Gopinath Reddy 
                 __________________________________________
                                      
   PARGI (RANGAREDDY DIST), MAY 11: On a hot summer's day in Raghavapur
   village, 13-year-old Balamani abandons her game and rushes towards an
   ice-cream vendor, baby hanging from her hips. She picks up some candy,
   and shares it with the baby, and takes up from where she left.
   Balamani bore the child barely a year ago: it is a burden she cannot
   wish away.
   
   Yadamma (8), from Venkannagudem, appears to be in shock ever since she
   married a 15-year-old boy last fortnight. She remembers nothing, not
   even her husband's name.
   
   Balamani and Yadamma are among many minor girls in the district
   surrounding the State capital whose parents put them through the
   rigours of marriage before they even know what it is all about. Some
   of the girls are widowed young, while others are abandoned by their
   husbands and disowned by their parents.
   
   The parents, on their part, want to discharge a responsibility as
   early as possible, apprehending difficulty in getting the girl married
   if she crosses her teens. The reasons cited by several parents include
   exorbitant marriage expenses and the danger of the girl going astray.
   
   Balamani's mother Jangamma is in the process of finding a groom for
   her second daughter, all of eight years old. ``Who will take the
   responsibility if something untoward takes place?'' she asks. A mother
   of six, Jangamma got married when she was barely seven years old.
   
   The issue came to light recently after the volunteers of Child Rights
   Protection Committee (CRPC) approached Pargi police stating that in 10
   villages, parents of 16 minor girls were trying to get them married.
   
   CRPCs were formed at village and mandal-levels with the initiative of
   the Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiya Foundation, a non-governmental
   organisation working in the district for the protection of child
   rights.
   
   The police booked cases under Section 5 and 6 of the Child Marriages
   Restraint Act, 1929.
   
   Parents of all the 16 girls were summoned to the Pargi police station
   the day the CRPC lodged the complaint. ``We verified the girls' ages.
   While parents of two girls submitted evidence to show their daughters
   were majors, in the remaining cases, we obtained an undertaking from
   the parents that they would not perform the marriages till the girls
   were majors,'' said Pargi sub-inspector T Ramana Rao.
   
   But the police too consider the whole thing a burden. ``We have our
   priorities. Though it is our responsibility, it is not possible to
   prevent child marriages. Other wings of the department should also
   involve themselves,'' another police official said.
   
   MVF project coordinator R Venkat Reddy observed that poverty and the
   lack of awareness were the reasons for child marriages in the
   district. ``The parents too lack support from society,'' he pointed
   out.
   
   With parents and the authorities expressing helplessness, the girls
   are left to reconcile to destiny.
   
   Bhagyalakshmi of Yeligindaguda, has a bitter experience to narrate.
   She married Narsimha of Kankanti when she was nine years old. Three
   years later, her alcoholic husband deserted her as she bore him no
   children.
   
   A dejected and frail Bhagyalaksmi says she suffered a lot. ``My
   husband used to beat me up every day. His mother and he tortured and
   threw me out. Later, he married another girl, but she too met the same
   fate,'' she says.
   
   Copyright ©1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.