RAHA, Feb 9 - In a dramatic move, following an input a team of Raha Police in June last year had rescued a 14-year-old girl of Dighaldori village, who was to be married off to a 37-year-old man from Haryana.
In December, Rekha Devi (name changed) a 14-year-old girl from Khaigarh village of Raha, was married off to a man in Bihar. The marriage was fixed and arranged within two days. Rekha�s father, a daily labourer, was happy with the marriage. �I did my job well � what every father dreams of. My wife also supported me in my act�, he told this correspondent with a proud voice.
Another girl, aged 20 of Raha town was married off to a man from Haryana in January this year. The marriage took place at a temple in Nagaon with attendance of the girl�s parents and the groom and two of his companions from Haryana. The marriage was kept secret from the girl�s other family members and villagers.
According to information received, all the three above-mentioned marriages were being operated through a private network. In each marriage, the families of the girls� were promised a luxurious life by the grooms and their agents. �A few hotels in Nagaon are becoming a meeting spots for pimps and customers. The grooms after arriving in Nagaon, usually take shelter in some specific hotels in the town and marriages were fixed from there,� a source privy to a network said.
A dozen of minor girls are now being trafficked every month in the name of marriage from Deobali, Chaparmukh, Dighaldori, Phulaguri, Barapujia and some other villages under Raha revenue circle to different States of India chiefly Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Many of the girls were forced by their parents to discontinue studies and get married. The interesting fact is that cash is offered to the families so that the marriages can be arranged in no time and traffickers can pick up the girls easily.
Ignorance of the parents, poverty, the lure of a job, absence of measures to stop trafficking, agents belonging to the same village are some of the reasons for frequent trafficking of girls from those places, as found by this correspondent in a survey.
When contacted, a woman social activist working against child marriage requesting anonymity said, �In Nagaon district monitoring committees have not yet been seen nor have any awareness campaigns been started to mobilise the community, police and especially the temple priests who solemnise marriages secretly�. Criticising the role played by the Social Welfare department, she further remarked , �They do not consult the various enforcing agencies such as the police or the voluntary organisations to break the nexus involved in trafficking.�
Meanwhile, many child marriages have still gone unreported in various parts of Raha and neighbouring areas under the nose of the concerned authorities who are supposed to take action under the law. Although these have become a big menace at Raha, but neither the administration nor the police have yet taken any initiative to spread any awareness about it.
Abani Saikia, working with a children�s organization for many years said , �Early child marriage, that is marriage below the age of 18 years, is a cognisable offence. Whoever performs or facilitates any child marriage will be punished with rigorous imprisonment, which is not less than three years,� adding that the same punishment will be awarded to the temple priest or nikah registrar.
When asked about the role of the police in preventing child marriage, Moloy Kumar Acharjee, in-charge, Raha Police Station opined , �Unless parents and concerned girls are conscious, it will be difficult to prevent� .
The prevalence of the deep-rooted child marriage and trafficking practice at Raha and its neighbouring areas has now become a cause of concern for the socially conscious residents of the town. The residents have urged the administration and police to take strong action, according to law, against those found involved either in under age marriage or trafficking of women in the name of marriage.