Hundreds Of Villagers Turn Violent As Vidisha Social Welfare Organisation Stops 5 Child Marriages In A Day

Vidisha today is a glaring example of how deep are the clutches of the social evil of child marriage in the very fabric of our country. When the five-member team of Vidisha Social Welfare Organisation (VSWO), one of the partner organisations of Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation (KSCF), along with child helpline counsellor and the police team reached Lateri tehsil to stop not one or two, but five child marriages, there were hundreds of villagers and family members to protest and stall the operation. The villagers were ready to resort to violence, and even gheraoed the police station when the team reached there.

The team was finally able to stop the marriages of children who were less than 17 years of age, but not before putting up a tough fight with the huge crowd who were ready to go to any extremes to conduct the child marriages.

“We went there to stop the child marriages but we had no idea that the situation would escalate and turn this violent that we had to rush to the police station for security. Over 200 people surrounded the police station in protest as well,” Deepa Sharma, Counsellor, Child line team, Vidisha, said.

Working on a tip-off received on child helpline 1098, the team of VSWO along with child line Counsellor Deepa Sharma and a police team reached the venue in Lateri. However, they soon found out that they were not one, but five marriages taking place.

Once the news of the team’s arrival spread in the village, there were ripples of protest from all around. The team was not allowed to meet the groom initially, but after much efforts, they finally met the groom who, they found, was not 25-year-old, as claimed by the family, but a mere 15 years.

The groom’s elder sister, who was also less than 17 years, was also getting married, while another minor girl in the family, who was less than 16 years, was another bride who was freed from this deep-rooted social vice.

Two other marriages were taking place in the tribal area. When the team rushed the venue, the villagers got violent and took to swords and weapons to stop them from stalling the marriages. It required much persuasion and arguments before the families agreed to stop the marriages.

This being a tribal belt, child marriages are socially accepted and often promoted, and while the VSWO has been working relentlessly to create awareness about this social evil, the road for them is often filled with such protests that defy logic.

The team has been continuously stopping child marriages and tirelessly working to uproot this social evil of child marriages in the district.

“This action is a positive message against child marriage in the district and will help in spreading awareness among the general public. Our organization, along with Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, is working to eliminate this social evil. Child marriage is a cruel attack on human freedom, dignity, social morality, equality and inclusiveness. Our goal is to make India child marriage free by 2030 by completely eliminating child marriage from the society,” Ram Raghuvanshi, Managing Director, VSWO, said.

On 16 October, 2022, Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation had launched the world’s largest ever grassroots campaign against child marriage. The campaign has been the result of the clarion call given by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Shri Kailash Satyarthi, to the nation to initiate collection action against the social evil of child marriage. Vidisha Social Welfare Organisation was also part of the campaign and has been working on it since then.