Sword attack over child brides

[emad]

May 13, 2005


By Catherine Philp
India is shocked by assault on official who objected to wedding



A BRUTAL attack on a child welfare officer who tried to prevent three young girls from being married off in a mass ceremony has provoked outrage in India over the ancient practice of child marriage.

Hundreds of government workers and social activists had been mobilised in the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to prevent the illegal mass weddings of under-age boys and girls on the occasion of Akshaya Tritiya, a lunar holy day regarded as particularly auspicious for weddings.

Shakuntala Verma, a government child welfare officer, travelled to Bhangarh village in the tribal-dominated Dhar district in Madhya Pradesh after receiving a tip-off that a family there was planning to marry off their young daughters in such a ceremony.

She demanded proof of the girls’ ages but was forced to leave after family members threatened her. Later that evening a visitor turned up at her door armed with a sword and began slashing at her.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-1609908,00.html

[UCLA Dem]

1. Absolutely horrific. Prayers for her.