A young woman, married at 12, fled from her husband's home. Thanks to an unexpected method, she managed to make her union. A real victory for this Indian woman!
In India, 73% of women are forcibly married, and marriages of girls or women with much older men are commonplace. This is what Sushila Bishnoi, now 19 years old, has experienced. While she was only 12, her parents married her against her will in 2010, during a secret ceremony in the Barmer district.
Originally from Rajasthan, this young woman is lucky because she has just succeeded in having her marriage annulled seven years later. In this Indian region, those who are forcibly married usually stay with their parents until they reach the age of 18 before being sent to their husbands, explains NDTV. Sushila Bishnoi tells her story to AFP: "I wanted to study, but my family and in-laws forced me to live with a drunk," adding that her parents forced her to consume the marriage. Fortunately, she was able to escape from her husband's home to seek refuge in a home. There she met Kriti Bharti, activist of Saarathi Trust, who regularly cancels early marriages.
The two women embarked on procedures to annul the union, but until then the man had always denied having married Sushila while she was a minor. They finally found a solution ... On Facebook! As the ceremony had taken place in secret, there was no way to prove that the girl had been married against her will when she was under 18 years of age. Until they found infallible proof: many of the husband's friends had posted congratulatory messages on his wall in 2010. By taking screenshots, the two women won their fight. "The court recognized the obvious and declared the marriage invalid," says Kriti Bharti at the end of the hearing Monday, October 9.
The story of Sushila Bishnoi is unfortunately not an isolated case. Fortunately, the Indian Supreme Court has just passed legislation to limit early marriages. Since October 11, 2017, it is considered that having sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 18, even in the context of marriage, is necessarily a rape.