Rajasthan court annuls over a decade old child marriage

Jodhpur, Nov 23 (IANS) A family court in Rajasthan here on Thursday annulled the marriage of a girl which took place when she was only three years old. The girl is now 17 years old.

The teenaged girl with the support of NGO Saarthi Trust founder Kriti Bharti fought a legal battle to get the child marriage, that took place in 2003, annulled.

Bharti who is also a rehabilitation psychologist helped the girl gather courage and plead to seek the annulment in Family Court-1 of Jodhpur.

Judge Rekha Bhargava issued the annulment of the marriage which took place 14 years back after the two parties reached a mutual agreement.

"With the help of Kritididi, my child marriage is over. Now I will study to build my future," the victim said in a statement.

The girl is a resident of Sunthala region in Jodhpur. She was married off in September 2003 when the community pressurised her late father and arranged the marriage to a youth from Partapnagar.

Her in-laws and relatives were pressurising her mother to send the daughter to stay with her husband's family.

The girl with the help of Bharti filed a petition in June in the family court for the marriage annulment. Bharti appeared for the petitioner and presented documents related to her age and how the marriage was forced.

Bharti, in the meantime also counselled her in-laws, following which her in-laws agreed to consent to the annulment.

Bharti is associated with an unique movement and has been successful in the annulment of 34 child marriages and has prevented more than a thousand child marriages till now.

"Her (victim) studies would start again, which was stopped due to mental pressure she was facing all these years. Now efforts are being made for her rehabilitation after her marriage is annulled," Bharti said.

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