Sukanya

marriage

Bibwewadi

Indian Penal Code

Child Marriage

While we are banging the drum of progress in the country, the on-ground reality seems to be much different. Discarding this veil of advancement in the society is the story of 18-year-old(name changed), who was married off at the tender age of 14 to a 50-year-old man under the pretext of providing her good education.Belonging to a poor family, Sukanya’s parents were convinced that getting her married off would solve their problems as well as meet her demand getting an education. Sukanya’s in-laws promised her family that they will let her study and will not force her to copulate with her husband until she came of age. However, only suffering and harassment came along Sukanya’s way.While talking to Mirror, Sukanya said, “I was in Class VIII when my grandmother fixed this. My parents are not living together and so I was living with my grandmother, who married me off as her financial condition was weak. I opposed this but my relatives convinced me that as we were poor this was the best option for me. My in-laws had promised my grandmother that they would provide me with a good education and a good life. Although they promised not to force me into physical relations with my husband until I came of age, I was raped multiple times by my husband. If I refused, he would beat me up.”Sukanya said her husband had been married twice before and both the girls were minors too. They had run away facing mental and sexual harassment. “They never allowed me to visit my village to meet my grandmother and relatives. My uncle and aunt stay at Pimpri and my husband would refuse them to meet me whenever they came.”Fed up with this, Sukanya finally gathered up the courage to speak up and informed her uncle. But her mother-in-law saw her talking on the mobile phone and thrashed her. “After this incident, my uncle came toand took me with him. He then admitted me in a hospital for treatment,” said Sukanya.Without further ado, the uncle and aunt rescued Sukanya from her in-laws and approached Pimpri police chowky. But her woes did not end there as even the police made her run from pillar to post. Finally, a case was registered by the Pimpri police station. Sukanya’s in-laws have been booked for rape and physical assault under sections 376, 323 and 326 of theand relevant sections of theAct, POCSO Act, and the Juvenile Justice Act.Talking about her niece’s predicament, the victim’s aunt said, “I myself saw her condition. She was brutally assaulted by her husband on multiple occasions. I tried meeting her but her inlaws never let us meet or talk on the phone. They even locked her in a room to prevent her from talking to others.”The case was filed by child rights activist Dr Yamini Adbe who told Mirror, “When she came to my hospital for treatment her condition was very bad. I asked her the reason behind this and that when she narrated me her ordeal. She had been married off at the age of 14 in a temple in Latur. Her in-laws then brought her to Pune where they stay in Bibwewadi. She was being treated like a maid and under the lure of good education, she was locked in a room for the past four years. She never left the house as the family was trying to hide the child marriage.”Senior inspector Kalyan Pawar of Pimpri police station told Mirror that they were in the process of filing an FIR. After that, they will investigate the matter. Police denied disclosing the names of the accused as the investigation is pending.