You can't beat friends like these.
A 16-year-old girl in Rajasthan, who had been sent off to live with her husband in another village, was rescued thanks to her classmates who were determined to bring her back to school.
She was married off when she was 11, Hindustan Times reported, to a man 12 years older to her, as part of a "bride exchange" when her brother was married to a woman from her husband's family. In May, she was sent to her husband's village. When her classmates noticed that she did not come to school the next day, they reportedly went searching for her barefoot.
According to the HT report, they complained to the local police and the district collector who tracked the girl down and entrusted her to the care of a child welfare centre. Her classmates, with the help of their teachers, helped her return to her parents, and ultimately to school.
She told HT that she wants the marriage annulled and wants to study further.
Recently, a Rajasthani woman who was married at age 8 cracked the National Eligibility and Entrance Test (NEET) to study medicine, thanks to the support of her husband and family. The state has an enduring problem of child marriage, which is illegal, but continues due to poor enforcement of the law. Recently, a group of women came together in a Rajasthani village to overcome centuries of 'tradition' of child marriages.
Meanwhile, the 16-year-old child bride is now back in school with her saviours--seven boys and six girls who stepped in when the adults were not doing their job.
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