Sonu Kanwar traveled to the school and Panchayat offices to discuss small community meetings on women’s rights. |Picture source: Special arrangement
To challenge the social norms of child marriage deep in the region, a 28-year-old Rajput woman rides her two-wheeler through dusty roads to raise awareness in rural communities in the Ajmer area of Rajput woman in a remote village in Rajasthan. So far, her efforts have successfully stopped about twelve child marriages.
Sonu Kanwar is a resident of Bhanwta village in Pisangan Block, Ajmer, who herself married at the age of 12. When she gave birth to triplets at the age of 17, she also faced the challenge of her early mother.
Ms. Kanwar was aroused awe and respect when she headed to the school and Panchayat office in a two-wheeler to discuss small community meetings. Few young women dare to openly question the tradition of child marriage without worrying about the consequences, as she did when she told people about the laws against this practice.
Ms. Kanwar’s keen and unwavering gaze was revealed to anyone, as there was no attempt to have a child marriage under her watch. The young woman identified the marriage case with unstoppable courage and brought them to police notices and initiated a process to ensure parents’ commitments.
Kanwar’s marriage as a child was not an exception, but the norm in her village, and no one paid attention to its illegality. Her parents decided to arrange her marriage the same day her sister got married. Ms. Kanwar told him: “My twelve-year-old is completely clueless. I have dreams, but no one listens to me.” Hindu.
Her husband, Laxman Singh, was also underage at the wedding. Years later, Mr. Singer became his wife’s strongest supporter and cheerleader in his struggle to end the child marriage in his community. Ms. Kanwar said they both realized how to do injustice to them.
After getting married, Ms. Kanwa was with her parents for several years, trying to keep studying. She was soon sent to live with her husband, and life changed when all the girls, who were only 17 years old, gave birth to triplets. In addition to physical stress, the emotional loss to her was even greater.
Ms. Kanwar said: “I experienced great pain and struggle while raising three daughters at the same time. My determination to fight child marriage only became stronger and stronger in every pain I endured.”
She initially began to spread awareness among young girls nearby while giving them tuition fees, and later joined Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal, a non-governmental organization, working for the rights of children, as a partner in the “Justice Rights of Children” initiative.
When she began visiting different places to raise awareness about child marriage laws, Ms. Kanwar once discovered Balat (Marriage Parade) When she heads to a nearby village. “When I saw a little boy who was no more than 10 years old on a horse, I was sure it was a child marriage,” she said.
Ms. Kanwar follows Balat Nearly two hours, and introduced the upcoming child marriage to members of the NGO. “When the guests saw me following me, the guests turned into casual clothes inside the bus. They threatened me and asked me to go back,” she said.
After chasing for nearly 50 kilometers, Ms. Kanwar and her companions successfully intervened and stopped the child marriage. Not only did she save about 12 children in a similar way, but she also blocked hundreds of future marriages, news about police intervention, parents were forced to sign promises and were reprimanded for participating in the crime.
Ms. Kanwar’s life could have ended with abuse, despair and fear, just like many other married children who are too young, but she mustered up the courage to draw her own path in different ways. She and her husband hope that their efforts will help build a society that no longer needs to do so.
Ms. Kanwar said: “The day when everyone sends their children to school, being forced to get married without children will bring an ideal social environment for all of us.”
publishing – April 19, 2025 08:51 IST
