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印度14岁新娘以死相逼离婚重返校园
http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/06/28 17:50  国际在线

  An Indian child, married off against her will at the age of 12, has won a battle to have her two-year marriage annulled so that she can return to school.

  Chenigall Suseela, from a tiny village in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, is one of the few child brides to have fought and won a battle against the ancient practice of underage marriage in the state.

  Village elders, the keepers of village law, granted her wish only after she went to police, threatened to commit suicide and finally enlisted the help of a child-protection organisation that usually rescues child labourers to return them to school.

  Suseela, who was born into an impoverished low-caste Untouchable family, was married two years ago to a 15-year-old boy in a neighbouring village in Rangareddy district. The match had been made years earlier by their parents.

  She left her family and moved in with his, but six months ago she went to the police to seek help against her husband, whom she accused of abusing her. However, elders on both sides opposed her demand for separation, saying that local Hindu customs forbade it.

  Marriage is illegal under the ages of 18 for girls and 21 for boys, but the practice is still common in rural parts of India, particularly in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh. Few marriages in India are formally registered and religious ceremonies are regarded as socially if not legally binding, even when the spouses are under age. Unable to get a legal separation, Suseela's only recourse was to seek the elders's help.

  When they refused, she returned to her village anyway and threatened to commit suicide if they forced her to go back to her husband's home. She demanded the right to return to education and sought the help of the MV Foundation for child labourers.

  Her parents eventually admitted that they were wrong to have married her off without her consent. Last week the elders of the two villages met the young couple and their families and pronounced them divorced. A document was signed by both parties and witnessed by foundation activists and a police officer, annulling the marriage and requiring the groom to return the valuables, including gold and cash, that were given as dowry at their marriage.

  More than 200,000 minors are believed to be married off in rural India every year, many of them in mass ceremonies on two astrologically auspicious days. Brides can even be toddlers and are usually returned to their families after the ceremony, but those approaching or having reached puberty are usually sent straight to the grooms' homes.

  Police rarely stop the marriages, and efforts to raise awareness or intervene in ceremonies are usually left to social activists, often at great personal risk to themselves.

  In 1992 an activist in Rajasthan was gang-raped when she tried to stop a child marriage. Earlier this year another had her hands cut off with a sword by the irate father of two young girls who was trying to marry them off.

印度14岁新娘以死相逼离婚重返校园

  一个出生贫寒的印度小女孩,12岁时被父母强迫出嫁,14岁时勇敢地为离婚而战并最终争取到重返校园的权利。

  据英国《泰晤士报》6月25日报道,这个女孩名叫苏西拉。在她所在的村庄里,未成年结婚的现象普遍存在并且历史久远,但像她这样敢与命运抗争的小新娘却寥寥无几。

  苏西拉出生于印度南部安得拉邦一个贫困潦倒的家庭。两年前在父母的包办下,12岁的她嫁给了邻村一个15岁的男孩。婚后的苏西拉离开父母与丈夫住在一起。但6个月前,她跑到当地警察局控诉丈夫虐待她,并要求警方帮助她离婚。但苏西拉娘家和夫家所在村庄的立法者——村中长老们,却坚决反对她的要求,并声称离婚是当地风俗所不允许的。

  倔强的苏西拉逃回了娘家,并以自杀相威胁拒绝回到夫家。同时,她向一个名为“MV童工基金”的儿童保护组织(该组织通常帮助当地童工重返校园)寻求帮助,要求重新回到学校继续接受教育。

  最后,苏西拉的父母承认强迫女儿结婚的做法是错误的。上周,苏西拉娘家与夫家的人,以及两个村庄的长老们聚集在一起,最终宣布苏西拉与丈夫离婚。随后,双方父母在“MV童工基金”儿童保护组织代表和警方官员的见证下签署了离婚协议。协议书中还要求苏西拉的夫家将她的嫁妆归还。

  报道说,印度男女的合法婚龄分别为21岁和18岁。然而在一些偏远地区,未成年人结婚的现象却普遍存在,其中拉贾斯坦邦、中央邦和安得拉邦等地区尤为严重。

  每年,约有超过20万印度未成年人结婚。出嫁的女孩中有的甚至才刚学会走路。她们通常在婚后返回娘家,等到青春期前再到夫家生活。在印度,几乎没有婚姻会进行合法登记,非法的未成年人婚姻只要举行了宗教仪式就会被社会认可。所以,在无法通过法律途径离婚的情况下,得到村中长老们的许可是离婚的惟一方式。

  印度当地警方很少干涉未成年人婚姻,仅仅是一些社会激进分子在为反对这种非法现象尽微薄之力,但通常他们的行为也给自己带来了麻烦甚至伤害。1992年,拉贾斯坦邦的一名妇女激进分子因试图阻止一场儿童婚姻而被轮奸;今年初,另一名妇女激进分子的手被一个要嫁出自己年幼女儿的父亲用剑砍断。(文/蒋黎黎)


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