India Child-Marriage Laws Ignored

Some As Young As 7 Married In Rural Towns Despite Attempts To Stop

(AP) 
Dressed in a new blue-colored polyester sari and weighed down with heavy silver jewelry, Soram said she was angry with her parents for marrying her to Bheeram, whom she met for the first time that day.

Something of a tomboy, she loves playing tug-of-war and regularly picks fights with boys, whom she believes to be quarrelsome.

"I know what happens after marriage," she said angrily.

Her new husband, though, was defiant.

"I have got married, I haven't committed any crime," Bheeram said.

Police and social welfare department officials say they are helpless to prevent such marriages. India's Child Marriage Restraint law passed in 1978 tightened earlier legislation aimed at stopping child marriages, but does not empower police to make arrests without warrants or magistrates' orders.

It can also be dangerous to challenge such weddings, which are deeply rooted in many villages' traditions.

Earlier this week, a welfare officer underwent 18 hours of surgery to reattach her arms, which were hacked off by an angry father with whom she had argued. She had urged him not to marry off his young daughter to a teenage boy.

Political leaders in Madhya Pradesh say a sustained campaign is needed to persuade people to give up their age-old customs.

"Nobody should expect the evil of child marriage to be eradicated overnight or just by launching an awareness drive," said Archana Chitnis, state minister for women and child development.