By Piper Weiss | Shine
from Yahoo! Canada – 30 Apr, 2012
Laxmi
Sargara holds up her hard-won annulment. (AFP)At an age when most kids are
learning to walk, Laxmi was already married. Her husband, Rakesh, was just
three-years-old when family sealed the deal on their fate. She was one.
Now seventeen years later the couple have
set a history-making precedent by having their marriage annulled. But the real
hero of this story is Laxmi, now 18, who took remarkably brave steps to reverse
the archaic tradition and opened the door for more child brides to follow.
Though technically illegal in India,
poor families living in rural areas often rely on these types of partnerships,
using kids as pawns in order to provide more financial stability to those who can't
afford to feed their children long-term. The fall-out is hardest felt for child
brides, plucked from their parents' homes in their teens and forced to live
with the husband they wed as a toddler and his family. The girls are expected
to play the role of obedient wife and daughter-in-law, and in some instances,
are beaten into submission by members of their new family.
Just days ago, Laxmi's was informed
of her own marriage obligations, promised almost two decades before by her
Rajasthani elders, and given a move-in deadline of April 24 from her in-laws.
"I was unhappy about the
marriage. I told my parents who did not agree with me, then I sought
help," Sargara told AFP.
She reached to a social worker in Jodhpur
who advocates for children's rights through an organization called the Sarathi
Trust. The social worker contacted the groom, who was prepared to go through
with family arrangement. After some persuading, he finally changed his mind and
agreed to an annulment, influenced by the fact that he'd be marrying a woman
risking everything to live without him.
"It is the first example we know of a couple wed in childhood wanting the
marriage to be annulled, and we hope that others take inspiration from
it," Kriti Bharti, the social worker who orchestrated the annulment, told
AFP.
A joint legal document
signed by both Rakesh and Laxmi made it official and provided a road map for
other young brides to do the same.
"Now I am mentally relaxed and my family members are also with me,"
said Laxmi, who beamed as she held up the document for photographers. She plans
to continue her education in hopes of landing a job so she can maintain her
independence. But Laxmi's newfound freedom comes with risk.
In India,
where an estimated 50 percent of girls are married before they're 18, opponents
of arranged child marriages can face serious threats, including gang rape,
beatings and maiming. On the same day as Laxmi's annulment became official,
protesters trying to stop a mass child wedding in Rajasthan were attacked and
injured by villagers. When a 13-year-old refused to wed her arranged husband in
2009, her parents withheld her food for two weeks. Amazingly, the young girl
prevailed and gained international attention and support for her stance. This
week Laxmi moved the needle even further; hers is the first legally-binding
child marriage annulment in India's
history.
Child marriages are a worldwide phenomenon, particularly in rural areas with
high poverty rates and closely-guarded ancient traditions. In parts of
Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, The Middle East and even the U.S.
underage children are forced into marriages at the behest of their families. In
recent years, American officials have cracked down on fundamentalist polygamist
sects in Utah and Texas
known to pair adult grooms with child brides. Other countries provide less
legal clout needed to protect young girls. In Yemen
where, there is no punishment for families who marry off an underage daughter,
about half the country's brides are under 15. In Saudi
Arabia, there is no minimum age for marriage
at all. An 8-year old girl found this out in 2009, when the Saudi courts denied
her annulment request. At the time, her husband was 58.