ROSHNI BAIRWA

She fights child marriages and emerges as a change-maker

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Roshini Bairwa from Rajasthan was only two when she lost her father. Her mother abandoned her soon after. She was raised by her grandparents and relatives who wanted to have a say in her upbringing. A few years later, her relatives got together to marry off the little girl. “But I wanted to study and play with other children in the evening. The idea of marriage was so scary,” Roshni said.

One day, when the pressure was too much to take, little Roshni ran to her children’s group (bal samooh) in the vicinity and begged for help. “My classmates, teachers and other elders all came forward to help me. They pressed upon my grandparents to stop my marriage. With great persuasion my grandparents agreed not to get me married offearly,” Roshni remembers.

Life was stable for a few years after that but when Roshni turned 16, talks about her marriage resumed. “My relatives got a proposal for me and pressurized me to get married. I refused and my relatives assaulted me physically. Every time I said