Married at 6, 18-year-old Rajasthan woman challenges her marriage as child

The woman has allegedly been receiving threats from her in-laws, and has asked to court to nullify her marriage.

A woman named Pintu Devi has challenged her marriage as a child in a court in Rajasthan’s Jodhpur. Married at the age of six, she has decided to move the family court after surviving the child marriage for 12 years. Pintu Devi has approached the court with the help of an NGO.

The woman has allegedly been receiving threats from her in-laws, and has asked the court to nullify her marriage as she was forced to marry when she was just six. The court has taken cognisance of her plea, and family court judge PK Jain has issued a notice to her husband in this regard.

Pintu Devi, who is now 18, was married in 2006. She could approach the court after NGO Sarthi came to her rescue. According to the complaint, her in-laws were involved in criminal activities and had threatened her family of boycott.

Sarthi has helped 36 couples in getting their child marriage quashed, and is now helping Pintu Devi so that she could live her life on her own terms as an adult.

“I was married at a very small age. My in-laws were involved in criminal acts, and there were other reasons because of which I did not live with them. Now with the help of Kriti didi (member, Sarthi), my petition has been accepted in the court. Now I hope to get freedom from my marriage soon,” says Pintu Devi.