Jaipur4 hours agoWriters: Sameer Sharma and Manish Vyas
The right to choose a life partner of his choice, the freedom to live in a live-in and have no hesitation even if he has children without marriage. This is the reality of those tribal areas of Rajasthan, where at the age of 13, girls are becoming mothers at the age of 15-16 years by choosing a partner of their choice.
These daughters, who are feeding their baby in their lap at the age of play, are unaware of the danger that can even give them death. Hundreds of girls have died during delivery due to early child pregnancy in these areas, but far away from education, awareness, these girls have accepted old traditions as luck.
Bhaskar Reporter reached a dozen villages adjoining Sirohi district and talked to hundreds of such girls. The truth, what came out was very shameful for the civil society as well as the administration.
Read for the first time – this exclusive report narrating the pain of these tribal minor girls…
We first reached Ranidara, a tribal belt village adjoining Pindwara tehsil of Sirohi district. A girl standing outside the hut-like half-kutcha house was feeding her with a small child in her lap. Some other children of 5-7 years old were also playing around. We stopped the car and opened the fence of thorns outside the house and went inside. On seeing us, the innocent girl ran back from there towards the fields.
We were calling him by voice when a middle-aged man came from that house. She took our full introduction and told that the one who ran towards the fields is her son’s daughter-in-law (name changed). The 8-month-old baby playing in her lap is her grandson. On our request, the middle-aged called Mehkan by voice.
Then in the conversation, Mehkan told that she was not married in the traditional way, she liked Mukesh (17) very much. Since then both of them started living together of their own free will. The two met at a fair about one and a half years ago. Now they have an 8 month old baby. Mukesh works as a stone sculptor in the nearby mines. When asked about the school, Mehkan said that till date he himself has not seen anyone going to school. You must have heard the name of the school. Before we could question the camera, Mehkan left from there.
Another shocking fact came to us. An old man told that only 8-10 men are alive in this Ranidara village with 70-80 houses. Most of the women have become widows. Most of the men here have died of silicosis due to stone work. Before proceeding further on this shocking news, you must give your opinion by participating in the poll given below.
From Ranidara itself, we took the route of village Lotana. Which was about 6 kilometers away. Here too, almost the entire population lives of tribals. The Up Sarpanch of this village is also a woman. The first question we had about the little girls becoming mothers was from her, but surprisingly, the woman started laughing as soon as she heard the question. He refused to even talk.
We were standing on the main road when a boy and girl were seen going on a bike. The girl sitting behind had a small child in her lap. On signal, he stopped the bike. Both were returning after buying vegetables from Pindwara market. Sania (name changed) told that when she was 14 years old, she was married to 20 years old Samtej (name changed). After a year and a half, she became a mother. At the time of pregnancy, she had to face a lot of problems, still sometimes her health worsens. Now his son Tejveer is one and a half years old.
…that tradition which girls have taken as luck
This has been a tradition in the tribal belt for hundreds of years, children choose their partner of their choice and start living in live-in. It is not necessary to have seven rounds of marriage or function here. There are 4-5 affection meeting programs of tribal society throughout the year. In these programs, children and girls of tribal society are given all kinds of freedom, away from all kinds of restrictions and strictness. After spending many nights and days together in the program, they choose their partner. After that start living in live in. There is no objection even in the home-society regarding the relationship. In such a situation, many girls become pregnant at the age of 13 due to the relationship made by physical attraction. The family members are also rest assured, their daughter settled down in the society by setting up a family.
The biggest problem of early child pregnancy
If the girl is 18 years old and the boy is 21 years old, then they can live in legal way also, but the problem of early child pregnancy and related complications in the tribal belt is increasing continuously. According to gynecologist Neelam Bafna, the right age of conception for a woman is 20 years or more, but pregnancy in adolescence is fatal for both mother and child.
When Bhaskar talked to the people about medical emergency due to early motherhood of girls here, former sarpanch Ratan Lal Garasiya told that instead of taking them to the hospital in the society, it is the practice of midwives. Their houses are still kutcha, most of the minor boys, instead of going to school, start working in stone from the beginning. They also do not understand that if the health of the wife or the girl living with her deteriorates, then take her to the hospital. As such, most of the cases are unregistered.
That’s why law or government can’t help
According to former CWC member BK Gupta, the provisions of the Child Marriage Act and POCSO are applicable only when a complaint reaches the administration or the police or a matter comes to the knowledge of the police or administration. When there is no complaint, then even such girls cannot get government assistance. According to him, these girls and their parents are not educated and they allow their children to live with them in the name of tradition. Whether married or without marriage stay together. The children themselves do not even go to school at the age of 13 to 15 years living together. In such a situation, they are not aware of the loss of early child pregnancy.
Tribal leader Ratan Lal Gasia told that the government has no information about these girls who became mothers at a young age, while there are thousands of such girls in the tribal belt of Sirohi district. Due to being pregnant at an early age, these girls have to face weakness, anemia, malnutrition and many sexual diseases. Sometimes these girls even lose their lives during the delivery.
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