Child Bride Uses Facebook Posts to Get Her Marriage to Alcoholic Husband Annulled in India
By Bryan Ke
Sushila Bishnoi, a former child bride from Rajasthan, India, recently took to Facebook to help convince a court that she was illegally married while she was still a minor.
Bishnoi reportedly struggled to convince the court to dissolve her marriage with her husband on the grounds that they were still underage when the ceremony happened, New York Post reported.
Bishnoi and her husband were both only 12 years old when they were set up in a secret marriage back in 2010.
Her husband, however, made the case even harder for the 19-year-old woman as he denies that they were married.
The teenager, with the help of Kriti Bharti, an activist from Sarathi Trust who has helped many former child brides in the area, finally found the evidence she needed that will surely convince the court to annul her illegal marriage.
After going through her husband’s Facebook account, Bishnoi and Bharti found several messages from families and friends who sent their congratulations to the newlyweds when they were still minors.
“Many of his friends had posted congratulatory messages on his Facebook page. The court accepted the evidence and declared the marriage invalid,” Bharti said on Monday, according to NDTV.
The teenager reportedly ran away from home after her parents tried to push her to move into her husband’s home and consummate the marriage. Bishnoi spent most of her days and nights at a shelter where she met Bharti.
“I wanted to study but my family and my in-laws wanted me to live with a drunkard. It was about life and death, and I chose to live,” the teenager told AFP via NDTV.
On Oct. 12, the supreme court declared that sex with a minor — even if the couple are married — would be considered rape in the eyes of the law.
Share this Article
Share this Article
