I have a younger brother and sister and am now studying in KGBV Chevella. My mother died after an illness of two years. I stopped going to school in Class VIII and was asked to take care of my siblings. My father remarried within a year. My stepmother started to torture us and refused us food. All of us wanted to go back to school and asked our father, but he was not willing. He wanted us to stay and work at home and also earn money for our marriages. My paternal grandmother took us to her house and looked after us. She maintains us on her meagre pension. My brother and sister were going to school but I was at home to help my grandmother.
My father fixed a marriage when I was 14 with a 40-year-old man with the help of his aunt. This upset my grandmother and she used to go to the temple daily, praying for God to help me somehow. While she was in the temple crying, the priest who was also a school teacher enquired about her worries and when he heard about the marriage, he called Childline. They contacted my parents who were adamant about and said it was their responsibility and no one could interfere. The man whom I was to marry was also contacted and he was asked how he could marry a 14-year-old. Childline took the help of the sarpanch and the member of Mandal Parishad Territorial Committee (MPTC), police, government school teachers and the anganwadi worker and cancelled the marriage. But the man was still trying to send messages to my parents that he was still ready to marry me. The pressure was continuous.
I contacted Childline again and they admitted me in KGBV along with my sister. My brother goes to the local primary school. We go to our grandmother’s house for holidays. Our parents have not contacted us. My friend Maheswari who also joined KGBV after her marriage was stopped is from the same village and we are good friends. I stand first and she second in class.
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’
