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13-year-old TN girl’s brave act to escape from Marriage.

Often children are being targeted by those selfish and greedy people. Be it child labour or child marriage, children have to face such cruelty in that small age. While some losses hope and accept as their fate. And there are some brave kids who want to get out from that trap and fight hard to leave the past behind and work hard for a brighter future.
And Child Marriage is one the biggest problem and hurdle for India’s growth and also for children’s bright future. In very small age children get into such problem as child marriage. One such story that sure does gives the definition of braveness and a will to never give up and fight back.

This story is about a girl, who fought against all odds to set free from the child marriage trap, which was set by her aunt. Nandani Nagaraji who is now 14, faced a horrible face in such a small age, but she never lost hope and fought and want the battle.

While she was only 13, she was forced to marry a man double her age. She was forced by her aunt. Since her mother died due to illness and her father abandoned her, without having a choice she was living with her aunt, who wanted to get rid of Nandani.

Before her marriage, she made a call to the district collector and told everything that has happened with her. From one of the pamphlets received from her school, she was able to get the collector’s number. And one day after the call, she was rescued and sent to children’s home.

According to a 2018 report, nearly 1.5 million girls in India get married before they turn 18. In the last 10 years, young women who were married as children has decreased by 15 per cent. Despite the figures going low, no state in India has managed to meet the Sustainable Development Goal target of eliminating this harmful practice by 2030.
Child marriage is a violation of child rights. According to Unicef, child marriages has a negative impact on physical growth, health, mental and emotional development too on the girl. Child marriage has been an issue in India for a long time, because of its root in traditional, cultural and religious protection it has been a hard battle to fight. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 strives to eliminate child marriages and other connected matters. Under the Act, a marriage between a man above 18 years of age with a woman below 18 years of age is punishable with imprisonment of two years, a fine of up to Rs 1,00,000, or both.

Now, Nandani’s only aim is to become an IAS officer and help children who faced and are facing such problems. And in future to make every child free from such traps and provide them with a bright future and life full of hope.
All the best, Girl.