Woman Married Off At 11 Months Finally Gets Marriage Annulled

A 20 year old Indian woman, who rejected her husband after she was married off by her parents when she was 11-months-old (read here), has finally had her marriage annulled.

According to Mirror, Santadevi Meghwal, was finally awarded the annulment by the Family Court, in Jodhpur, India. She said:

“I did not believe in this marriage and I was determined to fight for my freedom and break free. I was not going to give up. This is a wonderful day for me. It’s appalling that my marriage was hidden from me all these years, I only came to know when my village elders told my father to send me to my in-laws. At first I couldn’t digest the fact but it was the truth and my parents told me to accept it as my fate. I was not going to sit back and have my life taken away from me. I refused, and kept on giving excuses and refused to go to my in-laws house but the pressure built, I was threatened and told I’d be forcibly taken. That’s when I approached Saarthi Trust.”

Saarthi Trust is a children’s rights group founded by child marriage campaigner Kriti Bharti, 26, and this is now her 29th child marriage annulment in India.

Kriti said:

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“I’m over the moon Santadevi has won her freedom. It’s my dream to eradicate child marriage from India forever, and this is just another girl’s life I have helped to save. Santadevi approached me in April and I didn’t hesitate to help her. I immediately started giving her parents some counselling and advice.

Parents are generally apprehensive about going down such roads because of the humiliation and the consequences of being ostracized from the community. But thankfully Santadevi’s father finally supported her.”