Court grants marriage annulment to woman married at the age of 1

Jaipur: Rekha, who got married off at the age of one, was granted an annulment by the court to the same after 20 years of struggle. The 21-year-old received the gift on her birthday on Thursday, IANS reported.

Rekha had filed a case in the family court with the support of Saarthi Trust's Managing Trustee and Rehabilitation Psychologist Dr Kriti Bharti, and Judge Pradeep Kumar Modi of Jodhpur's Family Court No. 2 pronounced the historic order.

Judge Modi observed that for a century, the evil of child marriage had not been eradicated, and it's time everyone should get together, take the pledge and eliminate the social evil.

Rekha became the victim of child marriage in 2002 when she was married to a youth in her at the age of one. A few years back, his in-laws forced her to do the ritual of Gauna and wanted her to be sent to their house. After that, Rekha couldn't work on her dream job to become an ANM (nurse) and fell;l into depression. Meanwhile, her in-laws put a caste penalty of Rs 10 lakh on Rekha and her family.

Then Rekha heard about Dr Kriti's campaign for annulment of child marriage. Kriti is a renowned activist who got included in the list of BBC 100 Inspirational Women. In addition to helping Rekha in filing the case in the family court, Kriti motivated her to take admission to the ANM course.

Kriti said, "Rekha got the gift of annulment of child marriage on her birthday. Now, after the cancellation of her child marriage, her dream of becoming an ANM will be fulfilled. Efforts are being made for her better rehabilitation."