Girl moves Rajasthan court to annul child marriage

A engineering student on Tuesday approached a family court in Ajmer, pleading her child marriage held when she was only two and a half years old be annulled.

"I was shocked and became depressed when couple of years back I came to know that I was married by my elders to Subash of Kotputli in Jaipur district when I was only two and a half years old. I thought my dream of becoming an engineer will now be shattered.

"I was depressed as there was immense pressure from the caste panchayat....I did not have courage to refuse the marriage," the 19 and a half year old Kavita told IANS.

"I want to concentrate on my career....want to study further and be an engineer," said the girl, who is a B.Tech student in a government engineering college in Ajmer.

Kavita moved the court with the help of Jodhpur-based NGO Saarthi Trust.

"After coming to know about our NGO, she gathered some courage and she approached us and now we along with her have raised voice against this child marriage," said Kriti Bharti, a rehabilitation psychologist and the NGO's managing trustee.

"This is first child marriage annulment case of Ajmer," Bharti claimed.

Saarthi Trust works mainly for annulment of child marriages and has so far successfully annulled 29 child marriages and has been instrumental in stopping hundreds of such marriages.

"I tried to counsel in-laws of Kavita to cancel the marriage. But they did not agree....now we have approached the court for it," Bharti said.