Post date: Apr 30, 2013 1:4:51 PM
A man, disgruntled over the refusal of a girl to accept their child marriage, chops off his own mother-in-law's nose after beating her in northwestern India.
BARMER, RAJASTHAN, INDIA (APRIL 30, 2013) (ANI) - A villager from northwest India chopped off his own mother-in-law's nose after her daughter refused to accept their child marriage.
The incident, which happened on Sunday, took place in the socially backwardBarmer district of India's northwestern Rajasthan state, which also has the highest number of child marriages in the country.The accused Surjaram barged into the house of the victim, Chauthi Devi with around 10 men in the middle of the night to express his rage after Devi's daughter Parmeshwari refused to accept their child marriage.
A pain stricken Devi said on Tuesday (April 30) that Surjaram, along with his accomplices initially bashed her up before chopping off her nose, while her daughter ran to the police station seeking help.
"I was beaten earlier and I had also filed a report in the police station. There were around 10 men who came around two in the night and one of them chopped off my nose and my two children were also present there. He just cut my nose and ran away," said Devi.
Devi was rushed to a hospital in Jodhpur, where doctors bandaged her wounded nose.
Child marriages are quite common in parts of rural India, especially in the northwestern desert belt of Rajasthan. Barmer has one of the highest rates of child marriages in the country.
But of late the incidents of child brides refusing to accept their child marriages have been on the rise, leading to altercations between the families of brides and grooms.
Marrying too young is an issue because it is associated with many health concerns, including complications from pregnancy and physical abuse.
Teen mothers are at a higher risk for pregnancy-induced high blood pressure and delivering babies before 37 weeks and with low birth weights.
Locals said that Parmeshwari was married to Surjaram as a child and when she reached adolescence and went to her husband's house, she did not like it there and came back home.
Her refusal to accept the marriage infuriated the accused, who started harassing her family, pressurising them to send her back to him.
Parmeshwari said the intruders completely ransacked their house and inflicted severe wounds on her mother.
"They came to our house and burnt five cars that were parked outside. I fled from the house to the police station, but the police official sent me back home, I refused and said that he should come along, but he did not budge. When I went back to my place I saw that they had beaten my mother and had also burnt her hand," said a sobbing Parmeshwari.
Police are yet to make an arrest in the case, although they have registered a case against the accused, who is absconding.
Child marriage is illegal in most countries. It's outlawed in Bangladesh, India andNepal. Yet it still happens - on a regular basis.
A 2011 report from UNICEF reported that adolescent marriage is also common insub-Saharan Africa. It said that the psychosocial effects girls experience are enormous, including not having friends, being powerless and doing an excessive amount of housework.