The preparations of a Sangeet (Musical ceremony) and Mehandi (Henna) Ceremony were in full swing when a police vehicle with a wailing siren screeched to a halt in front of the house. The cop knocked on the door of the Shah family, bringing the preparations within to a screeching halt.
This cascade of events was put into motion during the lockdown, when Roshni, a grade IX student from the girl’s education program of Tilda Block of Raipur district of Chhattisgarh, started spending time at home discussing various topics with her mother. One day, her mother informed her about the upcoming marriage of a girl in their village. Roshni got lost in her thoughts about Mehandi, sangeet, and good food… something to cheer about during the boring lockdown.
However, her excitement was short-lived when she found out that the prospective bride was a minor and sister to one of her juniors from school. She started thinking, how could anyone think about the marriage of a mere 15-year-old girl and why? Is she happy with this marriage or has anybody even tried to know her feelings or willingness? Did the parents know that this was a legal offence? Thinking about all these questions, she had a sleepless night.
Wondering how to save the 15-year-old Yashswni from child marriage, she spoke to the to-be brides’ sister, her friend. The sister confided that she felt helpless as she was not able to do anything to stop this marriage. Roshini decided to take action.
Roshini requested her father to accompany her to meet the Sarpanch (Village Elected Representative). She tried to convince the Sarpanch to intervene and stop the child marriage. The Sarpanch said, “the child marriage trend is common in migrant community living in that village. The joblessness and abject poverty inflicted by the pandemic is forcing many parents to give off the minor girls in marriage. The families are exploiting lockdown restrictions to conduct low-cost ceremonies secretly”.
Hearing his response, Roshini felt that the Sarpanch would stop the marriage now. However, as the fateful day drew nearer with frantic preparations in earnest, Roshni began to feel restless. With only a day to go, and realising the futility of the meeting with the sarpanch.
Roshni decided to call her Social Mobiliser (SM), a mentor appointed by Room to Read to nurture girls’ scholars from the Girls education program. She narrated the whole story about the child marriage of her neighbour.
The SM guided her to call Childline (toll-free child helpline number) and police with a request to keep her identity confidential. Roshni was nervous and with trembling figures dialled the ChildLine number and narrated the entire story.
The police swung into action and informed the Child Welfare Committee, an institution created for children in need of care and protection. The Police, Childline and CWC members’ joint team went to the house of the girl and asked the parents to stop the marriage or face legal consequences.
Looking at the legal hassles, the girl’s parents decided to call off the marriage of their minor daughter. The groom’s family was not happy with the police interference but decided to keep mum. Police appreciated Roshini’s efforts and kept her identity secret. She was thrilled to apply her life skills to practical use to stop child marriage.
Roshni dreams of becoming a police officer. She states that “life skill education has equipped me to help my classmates during difficulties. I would like to become the change-maker of my village”. Little did she know that she has already become one. We need more changemakers like Roshini…