Chandigarh, July 24
For three months, 14-year-old Rajvinder Kaur has been enduring more pain than she can ever handle in a lifetime.
Allegedly “sold off” and then forced by a relative to marry a 32-year-old “crippled” man from a Hoshiarpur village, Rajvinder Kaur can barely gathers courage to recall the sequence of events.
“We are very poor. My parents are physically weak. My mother is a polio victim and disabled; my father has TB. My relative Rani came to our house on April 18 when my father and elder sister Sukhwinder were away. She took us to her house where Bhan Singh and his mother were waiting. Before I could do anything they forced me into a van, put make up on my face and married me to Bhan Singh in a gurdwara. He kept exploiting me sexually.”
From Mehndipur near Mukerian to an unfamiliar destination in village Urmar Tanda, Rajvinder’s journey seemed endless until Sukhwinder rescued her some days ago. Says Sukhwinder, “When I came to know that Rani had taken money for marrying Rajvinder to a man who had a rod in his leg, I could not stop myself. She deliberately took Rajvinder away in our absence so she could marry her. The marriage took place on April 18 and I brought Rajvinder back on April 22.”
But the village panchayat did not support Sukhwinder’s act of courage. Sarpanch Mulkha Singh asked the family to send Rajvinder back. With no support, Sukhwinder succumbed to social pressure. Her mother, with 70 per cent disability, could not fight the panchayat; her father, a daily wager, was also helpless.
But Sukwinder did not take things lying down. She could not see her sister wither under the weight of an unwanted relationship. On May 28 she went to Urmar Tanda and rescued her sister. Yesterday she landed in Chandigarh to seek legal help from Human Rights Law Network.
Said Sukhwinder: “When I went to Urmar Tanda I saw Bhan Singh beating Rajvinder. His mother had also been harassing her for dowry. So I brought Rajvinder back.” But in Mukerian, another trial awaited the sisters.
“After much
persuasion the sarpanch helped me bring my sister back. But that was not the end of our troubles. Despite repeated representations to DC, SSP, and SHO at Hoshiarpur, no action was taken against the accused,” said Sukhwinder. A visibly shaken Rajvinder added, “Police only asked if Bhan Singh had sexual relationship with me. When I answered they enquired more. I was ashamed.”
Although a clear cut case of human rights violation of the minor, blatant violation of Child Marriages Restraint Act, 1929 and rape under Section 375 IPC, the police has not yet registered a case against the accused. On the contrary some police personnel from Mukerian have been allegedly threatening Sukhwinder with dire consequences if she
did not compromise with Bhan Singh.
With nowhere to go, Sukhwinder has lodged her sister in a short-stay home at Chandigarh. Until help flows, even Rajvinder does not wish to go back home where a life of suffering waits to haunt her.
