Rajasthan: Teenage athlete thrashed for complaining against forced child marriage

In what highlights the regressive approach that still exists in Indian society, a teenage national level player had to pay the price of opposing forced child marriage. The victim had registered a complaint of forced child marriage to the Rajasthan State Child Protection Commission, following which she was beaten badly by her father and uncle.

Bharatpur: In a spate of crimes against women in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, yet another case of domestic violence has come to the fore, where a teenage national level player bore the brunt of complaining about atrocities done to her by her family.

The 14-year-old victim, who won the gold medal in national level weight lifting, had complaint of forced child marriage to the Rajasthan State Child Protection Commission chairperson Sangeeta Beniwal, following which she was beaten badly by her father and uncle.

According to reports, the victim is admitted to RBM district Hospital for the last four days but she is yet to receive any help either from the police or the State Child Rights Protection Commission.

The victim's mother said that her husband and brother-in-law are forcing the daughter for child marriage.

"When the complaint was filed to the chairperson of Rajasthan State Child Protection Commission, my husband as well as brother-in-law beat me and my daughter. They also took away all our papers, mobiles and cash," she said.

The teenager has participated in five national level weightlifting competitions so far and has won gold medals in all of them. She also wants to continue playing in the future too. But her father and uncle are constantly pressuring her to marry.

It is pertinent to mention here that on December 22, a complaint was made to the State Child Protection Commission chairperson regarding this by the victim and her mother.