#GirlIcon Girls Not Brides: Rajni Breaks The Silence On Child Marriage

We all know that India is growing at a pace and uniformity that has been long desired by all of us. Though with the moving positivity, there are still some sectors, some cities, states or towns in our sight that need development in all aspects.

Taking Uttar Pradesh for example, many rural people are still fighting the backward norms. One of the biggest setbacks being child marriage in India, which should have been erased by laws long back.

Rajini is one such Girl Icon who believes child marriage should be completely eradicated from the lands of India. The 17-year-old brave girl has been a stringent protestor to the same, for she has prevented about six consecutive marriages in her community. With men heading her community, Rajni has faced a lot of flak for raising voice against gender discrimination. She, along with her supportive parents, takes the risk of many odds under her fighting hood.

In a community where boys are taught to earn and girls are left in the kitchen, it’s certainly difficult to break the stereotype. It took a lot of prudent and persistent reasoning by Rajni to convince her own family about the perks of educating a girl child.

“My parents are very encouraging now but our fight against child marriage leads to a lot of back firing from the families that have to be explained. A village in India is a close knit affair, if negativity spreads, countering it is a very big deal” says the very confident Rajni.

Named as Mardaani by the local police, she is admirably bold and strong in raising her voice against gender discrimination. Belonging to a poverty stricken area, where education is not easily funded, Rajni is making every stone unturned to do brilliantly well in a government school nearby.

She is ardently thankful to the Manch workshops at KGBV, where she learnt about the injustice to women. This young girl like many in our country is taking the responsibility of putting down caged freedom granted to many women. She believes knowledge is the best weapon and that day is not far when child marriage is off the tracks completely.

Narendre Modi once said “Mitron, Mana ki andher ghana hai but diya jalana kahan mana hai?”( It’s accepted that there’s enough darkness but lightening a candle is always an option) Rajni believes to live by it every day.

Isn’t this worth incredible accolades?