New Delhi: Married forcibly as a minor, abused by her husband and in-laws, let down by her parents, a 16-year-old braveheart from Bihar, who has been on the run since March, finally knocked on the doors of the highest court in the country. All she wants is protection, and the freedom to follow her dream to study further.
Last December, she was forced to marry a 32-year-old civil contractor, on the promise that she would be allowed to stay at her parents’ home and take her 10th board exams and study further. But her in-laws refused to let her return, and instead kept insisting that they wanted a grandchild as they had spent a lot of money on the wedding.
Her husband too did not support her dream of becoming a teacher or a lawyer, instead he beat her everyday for resisting a physical relationship with him.
Finally in January, her maternal uncle convinced the girl’s mother to get her back and let her sit for the board exams. Despite the trauma, she passed her exams. But soon after, her in-laws started pressuring her parents to send her back. The girl told her mother about the abuse, but found little support.
Finally, in March, she fled her home with a friend. Next month, her mother filed a complaint of kidnapping against the friend, without divulging the child marriage. However, in court, the girl admitted she had known the friend for about 2 years, and felt safe in his company.
Now she has told the court that she fears for her life as her husband is believed to have told people he would kill her. She also revealed that her parents had married her off due to “financial considerations”.
In her petition for protection, she has also said the state machinery had failed to take appropriate action in the case and come to her rescue, despite the mandate laid down in the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006.
“Owing to the social order prevalent in that part of the country and the prevailing circumstances, the parents believed their daughter should get married. A 32-year-old contractor by profession had chosen to marry this 16-year-old girl. That is the disgusting part. He is also going to the girl’s village and threatening her parents that he will see to it that the bride is returned to him. Fortunately, the court has stepped in today and saved the girl’s life,” the minor’s lawyer Abhisek Rai told ThePrint.
The present situation & the court order
Saying that she was “a hapless victim of child marriage who stands forlorn, with no help from family and society in her fight to walk out of the abusive child marriage”, the girl has asked for the court’s protection while invoking the parens patriae jurisdiction.
Parens Patriae refers to the doctrine under which a court acts as the provider of protection to those who are unable to take care of themselves, such as minors.
On Tuesday, the minor girl, through her friend, approached the court, invoking the contours of the 2006 anti-child marriage law.
A bench of Justices Ujjal Bhuyan and Manmohan has issued a notice in the case and listed it for hearing on 15 July. The bench has also directed the Bihar and Delhi police to ensure that no harm is caused to the minor or her friend.
What the law says
According to the Prohibition of Child Marriages Act, 2006, a minor can seek a decree to nullify her marriage after she attains the age of 18.
However, in this case, since she was a 16.5-year-old minor, the law allows her to obtain such a decree from a local court only if she is represented by a ‘Next Friend’ who is willing to risk his life and liberty, even while facing opposition from her family, her in-laws, husband and society. Given that the girl’s parents had lodged an FIR, whoever helps her also faces the risk of being arrested.
This is what led the girl to approach the court through her friend, seeking directions against those who were harassing her, and taking coercive actions against her and her friend.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: West Bengal has a child marriage problem. It’s defying its own haloed history