Malda woman’s fight against child marriage - Indian Express

Malda woman’s fight against child marriage - Indian Express
No matter what the laws - community practice is hard to change (tribal traditions of child marriage, honour killing, FGM, etc.) This is a brave woman - and if we can support and encourage LOCAL WOMEN, change may come...

Even though, child marriages are unpopular, it still remains a social menace, which is rampant in rural areas. While the local administration looks incompetent at curbing this menace, an unassuming 21-year-old girl from a remote village in Malda has taken the mantle to eradicating this menace. Meet Anjali Burman, a resident of Balarampur village, a third-year student in Malda College.
Not only did Anjali manage to save herself from child marriage, she also managed to rescue seven other girls in the age group of 12 to 14 from the clutches of child marriage. "In our locality, girls are married off at an early age. My parents also wanted to marry me off, but I resisted it. From my childhood, I had nutured dreams that I would be educated and would be financially independent. After I resisted my marriage, I always thought there were other girls like me in the area. And I know that how it is a difficult task for a village girl to resist the marriage. The whole village and the entire community stands against the girl in such cases. I took oath that would try my best not to allow any of the minor girls to be married," she said.