Girl SOS after child marriage lecture - Officer stops wedding, gives cycle and books to Class VI girl in Murshidabad village

Runa Khatun (in blue) being handed over the bicycle on Kali Puja on Saturday
by officer Roy (extreme left). Picture by Chayan Majumdar

Alamgir Hossain, TT, Raninagar (Murshidabad), Oct. 31: A police awareness drive on child marriage, trafficking and sexual abuse has helped to stop the marriage of a 14-year-old girl who made her friend send an SOS to an officer willing to help.

Runa Khatun, a Class VI student, was given a cycle and books on Kali Puja last Saturday by police officer Arup Roy who wanted to recognise her effort to continue studies.

The police have been conducting weekly lectures in schools in several districts of Bengal to check girl trafficking, a growing problem in the state, as well as child marriage and sexual abuse.

Along these lines, Roy, the officer in charge of Raninagar police station, had conducted a lecture on July 29 at Katlamari High School, where Runa read.

Katlamari was the first school that Roy and his team visited - the first of many weekly lectures that followed.

Although, girls from Class IX-XII were called to the lecture, junior girls were not barred from attending it.

Runa said she went to the lecture with her friend Sonia Khatun.

 Roy speaks to students of Katlamari High School, where Runa studied, on July 29.
Picture by Chayan Majumdar

One of the things, Roy told the girls, was to keep an eye out for each other. If a friend did not turn up in school for a few days, a classmate should go to her home and find out what happened, Roy had said.

If she noticed something amiss, the girl must immediately call him, Roy said and gave them his cellphone number.

Days after the lecture, Runa stopped attending school.

Her wedding had been arranged with a boy from the neighbouring village of Mohanpur. He worked as a labourer in Kerala.

Sonia went to Runa's home after a few days.

Runa's father is a daily-wage labourer and her mother a homemaker. Two of her brothers are school dropouts.

The friend found out about Runa's marriage on August 12. She also sensed Runa's reluctance when her friend told her to get in touch with the OC. Runa did not have a cellphone, but Sonia had.

"Amar biyer ichhe chhilona. Baba ma ke bhoye boltey parini (I did not want to get married. But I could not tell my parents that out of fear)," Runa said on Saturday.

"Call the borobabu of the thana and tell him. If he can stop the wedding, I will get the chance to study again," Runa told Sonia.

The friend made the call. The next day, Roy went to Runa's home and told her parents they would not be allowed to marry her off as she was not 18.

Roy, the officer in charge of Raninagar police station, later spent Rs 4,000 to buy a bicycle, a schoolbag and textbooks for Runa so that she can continue her studies. She was given these on Kali Puja.

"The school is 2km from Runa's home. The bicycle will be of help to her," Sonia said.

Runa's father Asazuddin Sheikh said his family was poor. "We find it difficult to make ends meet. That's why we wanted to get Runa married. The groom earned well - Rs 500 a day. But the OC told us we should let our daughter study. We have understood that and will get her married only when she wants," Sheikh said.

Officer Roy said Raninagar was a backward area where trafficking, smuggling and child marriage "are common". "That's why I started the campaign to make more villagers aware of the importance of education. I started the campaign on July 29, Vidyasagar's death anniversary."

Asked how he planned to help other girls who could be in similar circumstances, Roy said: "Several businessmen and NGOs have approached me. They have promised to help the girls."

District officials said most of the government schemes such as Sabuj Sathi and Kanyashree were for students from Classes IX to XII. "In child marriage cases, the girls are often younger. If there were some schemes for younger girls, I think the number of such cases would stop," an official said.