Girl knocks court’s doors after tolerating torture of child marriage for 12 years

Jaipur, March 1

After suffering for 12 long years subsequent to marriage at the tender age of seven, 18-year-old Mansi Gurjar has finally summoned the courage to initiate steps to annul her child marriage.

A resident of Paladi village of Rajasthan’s Bhilwara district, Mansi knocked on the doors of Bhilwara’s Family Court and filed the case for annulment of her child marriage on which Family Court Judge Mukesh Bhargava has issued summons to her so-called ‘husband’. 

Manasi elicited the support of Dr Kriti Bharti, Managing Trustee and Rehabilitation Psychologist of Sarathi Trust, Jodhpur, in her quest to break free from child marriage. 

Dr Bharti, known for launching a campaign that facilitates the annulment of child marriages, said that Mansi, 18, was married at the age of seven in 2009 to a young man from Banera tehsil.

The child bride is busy pursuing her first year of graduation. Her marriage took place in 2009 under social pressure. All seven years, old, Mansi realised what had happened only a few years ago.

After Mansi became an adult, she refused to accept the marriage. Since then, her in-laws have been putting pressure on her family and Mansi. They’ve even threatened the family with dire consequences. Certain caste panchs have also been threatening the family of a penalty and social boycott if the child marriage was annulled.

Mansi and her family became depressed for a long time owing to pressure and personal fear of caste panchayats. Now, with help from Dr Kriti Bharti of Saarthi Trust, Mansi has shown the courage to annul the child marriage.

Dr Bharti helped Mansi file a child marriage annulment case in the family court of Bhilwara District. In the petition, Dr Bharti pleaded on behalf of Mansi and presented the facts related to her age and other facts in the court.

Family Court Judge Mukesh Bhargava showed enormous sensitivity in the case of child marriage annulment and immediately issued summons to the so-called husband.

Judge Mukesh Bhargava said that swift and serious action will have to be taken at all levels to end the practice of child marriage. —IANS