It speaks volumes of the kind of country we’re in when even in 2021, child marriages are a common happening. While the legal age to marry a girl is 18 and a boy is 21, people of Rajasthan are still seen following the regressive, age-old, and patriarchal-in-nature tradition. Even the Rajasthan government allowed the registration of child marriages post which it faced a lot of backlash.
The talks around child marriage and the country’s failure to handle this crisis despite a ban were sparked when visuals of little kids getting married made it to social media.
In the clip, two innocent kids can be seen dressed in traditional wedding attire, performing their wedding rituals. The minors are seen surrounded by a group of women instructing them. Looking at the visuals, one can say that the kids, between the age of 10-12, are probably thinking it’s all a game. Their innocence can be gauged when they got into a fight during their wedding. The kids then laughed hard and continued with their puja.
@stc_india pic.twitter.com/qn4MUKZIqr
— सूर्यरेखा (@suryarekha_in) December 8, 2021
A report by Aaj Tak indicates that on December 7, two-child marriages happened at Kodi Shyam temple at Rajasthan’s Bhilwara area. Take a look at the disturbing visual.
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People online were irked on watching the kids get into matrimony at a tender age.
It’s shocking to see that neither anyone from the crowd nor the local cops intervened to stop this illegal marriage.
In another incident, a class 9 student of a government school in Rajasthan’s Chittorgarh district, aged 14, approached a child helpline number to stop her wedding that was scheduled a few days later, reported Hindustan Times.
Such practices are a roadblock in making the country progressive. Such a shame!