Married off at 6, teen moves court to annul marriage
Jodhpur, June 7: Married off at the tender age of 6, Pintudevi suffered for 12 years before finally moving court to dissolve the child marriage.
The daughter of daily wager Sohanlal Bishnoi of Pithawas village here, she was married to a youth from Saran Nagar.
After filing an appeal to annul the child marriage in the family court here on Wednesday, Pintudevi, now 18, told IANS: "I was married off when I was just 6. Since my in-laws were involved in criminal activities, I was scared. There are other reasons also why I do not want to go to my in-laws' place."
Pintudevi's in-laws threatened her and her family with social boycott if she went against the marriage.
With the help of Kriti Bharti, a rehabilitation psychologist and Managing Trustee of Saarthi Trust, Pintudevi finally moved court.
Judge P.K. Jain of the Family Court-1 registered the petition and issued notice to her husband and asked him to be present during the next hearing on June 22.
Bharti, who has been running a child marriage annulment campaign, said after the marriage is annulled, action would be taken against the families.
"Besides, efforts are being made for better rehabilitation of Pintudevi who will be appearing for her Class 10 exams this year. She dropped out of school after completing class 9 education. We are making arrangements to ensure she studies and gets empowered," she said.
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Curbs on movement, assembly remain in force in Kashmir after protests against Khamenei's killing
Srinagar (PTI): Normal life in Kashmir was affected for the fifth consecutive day as partial restrictions on movement of people remained in force as a precautionary measure.
The restrictions were imposed on Monday after spontaneous protests broke out across Kashmir a day earlier against the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in US-Israel joint strikes.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday held a meeting with civil society representatives and religious leaders as part of efforts to bring the situation back to normalcy.
ALSO READ: Protests against Khamenei's killing: Curbs remain in force in Kashmir
After the meeting, Abdullah appealed to people to maintain peace while expressing grief and anger in "mosques, shrines and Imambaras".
The government has shut educational institutions till Saturday, and reduced mobile internet speeds.
"Restrictions on the movement and assembly of the people continued in many parts of Kashmir on Thursday," the officials said.
A large number of police and paramilitary CRPF personnel were deployed across the city to prevent gatherings of protestors, the officials said.
They added that concertina wires and barricades were placed at important intersections leading into the city, while asserting that these were precautionary measures imposed to maintain law and order.
The iconic Ghanta Ghar in the city centre of Lal Chowk here continued to remain a no-go zone after the authorities sealed area with barricades erected all around it on late Sunday night.
The move to seal the Ghanta Ghar came after it witnessed massive protests on Sunday after Khamenei's assassination in the joint air strikes by the US and Israel.
This is the first time since August 2019 -- when Article 370 was revoked -- that protests on such a large scale have taken place in Kashmir.
