Child Marriage

Child bride

Bihar accounts for about 70 percent of all child marriages in India. I visited the village of Biknathodi very close to the Nepalese border to document a child marriage. It was with mixed feelings that I boarded a flight and headed out. After all, Bihar is the state derided for its bad governance, caste wars and corruption.

Child groom

Several hours and wrong turns in a jeep later we reached the village. Contrary to what I thought, the Bihar I experienced was beautiful and the people courteous, kind and hospitable.

Ornamentation

Biknathodi is one of the cleanest and best run villages I have ever seen. The village folk claimed that they got no assistance from the government and ran the village all by their loneselves, satellite dishes included. A lot of the men in the village worked in Bombay and Bangalore and the purchasing power of their ostensibly meager wages were high in the area. The streets were clean and "widows" were given the job of sweeping the same.


Women at wedding - the saris were given out by politicians during the elections

Kidnapping was a cottage industry of sorts in the area, which meant we were followed around by several muzzleloader-wielding youths when we went for walks in the evening.

Covered in Henna - two children wait

Two sisters were to marry two boys. One of the boy’s names was Rohit. I forget the rest now but have them somewhere. According to the parents the children would not consummate their marriages until they hit 18.

Next years brides

According to social workers the consequences of early marriage for girls are early pregnancies, obstetric complications, higher rates of neonatal mortality and infant mortality. The trauma of abuse, early pregnancies and sometimes domestic violence has profound physical, psychological and emotional consequences especially for the girls involved.

mother and daughter during ceremony

Various studies have documented a high degree of positive correlation between the incidence of under-age marriage and birth rates. For example, Uttar Pradesh, where child marriages are common, has the highest birth rate of 31.6, while Kerala, with very few child marriages, has a birth rate of 16.8, one of the lowest in the country.

Child bride and mother

Apart from health consequences, child marriage takes away the educational opportunities of girls, limiting opportunities for their employment and income generation, making them dependant on their husband’s family. Often the groom is much older.

Boy groom and family

Adolescent wives supposedly have little decision-making authority in their homes. They are often exploited.

Women watch weddings at the village banyan tree

Social workers say that many husbands tire of their marriages when their wives are still teenagers. Many such girls, divorced or widowed, are left to fend for themselves and their children.

According to the villagers child marriages sometimes failed because as the children grew older they sometimes fell in love with other people. It's a "dying tradition" said one elder to me. On the whole, the practice seemed fully supported by the villagers nearly all of whom had had child marriages themselves. "We keep wealth and property within the community."

Child bride with family

Bandmaster

With men folk traveling to cities for work it was necessary according to one elder to maintain the tradition or else, the girls would run off and marry men from other villages.

Rohit

I remember the girl covered in henna getting quite annoyed at me asking her if I could take her photo every few minutes. She finally asked me to stop and I did.

Two sisters two brides

I hope her assertiveness lasts.

And I still do not remember her name.