While most kids are desperately trying to get out of school, this young girl is trying to get out of her wedding.
At 13, Duli Hembrom should be busy with homework, sports and daydreaming about her latest crush.
Instead, she is busy devising a last-minute bid to put an end to her arranged marriage.
She is a child bride in an industrial city in India’s east.
Barely a teenager, Duli has written a letter begging her school principal to save her from the pending nuptials because her parents won’t.
According to the India Times, the Year 9 wrote: “My parents have fixed my wedding… I do not want to get married, I took an oath at the time of admission that I will not get married before I turn 18. I do not wish to get married early.”
She asked the principal of Jamshedpur’s Milan Mithi High School in eastern India to stop the wedding “whichever way possible”.
It is believed the oath refers to a promise she made to the school when she started.
Indian laws ban the marriage of children, specifying that a girl must be 18 and a boy 21 before they can wed.
However, the practice is still common in India, especially in rural areas.
The country has the second highest number of child marriages, according to a UN report.
Official local records show more than 51 per cent of girls in the state of Jharkhand get married before they are 18.
Duli’s father Lachhu Hembrom justified his decision, telling the Hindustan Times child marriage was a cultural phenomenon in their society.
He said it was difficult to find a suitable match for a grown-up girl.
We’re hoping a miracle stops this brave student from becoming yet another heartbreaking statistic.
Top Comments
Don't stop NOW! What happened to Duli Hembrom? Has India lived up to its legal obligations, to say NOTHING of its MORAL obligations, to protect her? Where is she now? How is she faring? Has she been freed from this child forced marriage? Was she, in fact, married at the end of April? There are your reporter's questions. India needs to know the world is watching. If it wants to be a modern country, it needs to ACT like one.
http://www.thepetitionsite....
Yet another excuse for pedophilia to gain more strength in a country that refuses to fix it's human rights abuses - particularly when it comes to women.
I don't care if it's cultural or religious - it's wicked and it's wrong.
Surely this has to be raised in the UN........should be the subject of serious debates.........should become legal with hefty jail sentences ?
India, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia are just three countries out of many that persist in overlooking these shameful practices.
Extreme embarrassment might be the only weapon left to wake these countries up so that they can drag their haunches out of the Dark Ages.