I was in Class VII when my parents forced me to get married. I vehemently refused. Much against my wishes, my parents discontinued my studies when I was in Class VIII and I was forced to marry when I was 16. I wanted to stay back and help my mother who worked hard and faced abuse all the time. I had started working at a college in Karnataka and was earning Rs.4,000.
I was forced to marry a 21-year-old relative from the same place. He worked in a gym as a helper. We migrated from Karnataka to Hyderabad and live with my in-laws who were allotted a house under the Rajiv Swagruha Scheme. My mother-inlaw is a municipal sweeper and father-in-law is a sewage cleaner. I have a daughter and a son. My husband takes good care of me and takes me to movies with children. During vacations, my sister-in-law who studies in Class X, my husband and I play cards and carrom and we are friendly.
Narrative provided by M Venkatarangaiya Foundation in their report ‘…and they never lived happily ever after. The battle for justice goes on: Voices of married girls in Telangana’
