A 14 year old girl in Malda, protests against her marriage to a 75 year old man, the authorities shrug off with the message, its a "social problem".
Even though rape is not an offense legally, within marriage, its going to be rape emotionally, for the child, and not just once. And anyway Child Marriage is an offense legally.
Its wrong for teachers to humiliate children, but its ok for a man to repeatedly rape a child, in the name of marriage?
Yet the authorities are able to shamelessly shrug it off with a "social problem" statement and and can be solved only by "social awakening".
Oh when will we wake up?
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/75-yr-old_hounds_child_bride_in_Malda_/articleshow/2417638.cms
Oh man...I cannot beleive this. Why the hell that 75 year old man needs to marry and what abt her parents. Somebody needs to put some brains in their empty heads. As regards to authorities, what can I say ? I think as a society we have become so numb to others issues that unless it happens to us, we donot even raise a eye brow. And once it happens to us, we will blame the government and the people and entire society.
ReplyDeleteGod help us..
- Vrinda
Early marriages are not allowing in any country its really shameless to all the people.Your blog is nice. I think you should add your blog at BlogAdda and let more people discover your blog. It's a great place for Indian bloggers to be in and I am sure it would do wonders for your blog.
ReplyDeleteas to why this happened, well, it is kind of obvious that money was the driving force.
ReplyDeleteBut this would surely not have happened if the family was concerned about the child. And which mother will disown their children, unless they see them as a bane?
this episoade narrates the plight of the girl child, in spite of all the progress we have made.. it just goes to show we need much much more to go in terms of awakening rural India to the reality that girl childs are human kids!
the new president has started using th girl child as her talking point.. i only hope she manages to have something done.. but no amount of talking or educating will do good if the causes in which th problems are rooted are adressed. here, it is foremost, the financial implications of havng a girl child...
the second thing that comes to my mind is the moral pedestal on which we place our religious leaders, and our customs.. ok, in this case you didnt see a priest involved, but usually when something like this happens, the atrocity has the support of the religious elders, and once that happens, noone in the community can actually raise their voice!
it is a great thing that in India we do have religious values imbibed in each of us.. but religion shouldnt be allowed to dictate how our we carry our rivate lives..
it makes you feel all this great shining we cry about is all a fad.. so much of what hapens in rural India is so barbaric and prehistoric.
vrinda, yes absolutely.
ReplyDeletedeepanjali its not just the early marriage, the age difference is just too shocking, and to not help the protesting girl..
re blogadda, i checked it out, but right now i already blog in too many places, but will keep in mind, thanks:)
ab i dont think its just the rural India which is barbaric..i agree on the religious angle, even if its not reported..
on the financial implications of girl child
1.give credit to homemakers. unless they are termed as working women, they wont get the respect. its been done in other countries..
2.the girl child should be responsible for her parents after their retirement
3.socially we must encourage, shared expenses of marriage
4.socially we must encourage children who are above 18 to take care of themselves, marriage and higher education, that way parents can fund for their retirement, as in western countries. this would make the children responsible too..
unless its done, female foeticide would continue and females would be given 2nd class treatment..
regarding the implications
ReplyDelete1. even i was going to suggest that.. in UAE, i hear you get Govt compensation for marrying again... though there are loopholes to this (it wont prevent abuse) its still a worthwhile step.
2. I dont know. today our society is growing towards the attitude that th children are not expected to look after the parents after they retire.. but if i remember, in olden day Kerala, there was the custom by which the son in law used to come and stay in the wives home.. it was called 'makhathaayam' (Im sorry I cant explain it fully, dont know that well)
3. shared expenses. less expenses and no dowry is something we can and should campaign for.
4. I cant agree with you more. i left home at 20, and i was called by my friends as having a western mentality, but i feel proud..
but it has its side effects. like the autonomy for youth could lead to us ending up completely in a western culture. the pub culture that is seen in Bangalore is the best evidence (though Im not against it per se, i feel that unmitigated freedom is harmful)
ab, its not about parents having nothing to do with children, but children taking up financial responsibilities. if people over 18 can think for their country, surely they should learn to take care of their needs. actually that would make them more responsible in later life..
ReplyDeletere the pub culture, parents arent supposed to be blackmailers who say, i will take care of you, if u listen to me. they should earn the respect of the child, and step and be forever emotionally, but be there till 18 financially:)
PS : i think the percentage of parents who dont expect their sons to take care of them is still a small number..after all the movie Baghban would have been viewed differently, if Amitabh's character had 4 girls:D