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POVERTY-STRIKEN FATHER NEW IDEA!
MARRY ONE, GET ONE FREE
By M H AHSAN / Nalogonda
In Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh, a poverty-stricken father arranged the marriage of both his daughters - one disabled and the other underage - to the same man.
Rajita was completely clueless about the concept of marriage and was all of 11-years-old when she and her older sister were married off to their maternal uncle - Saidulu Bolgoori.
The reason why he married off Rajita to the same man, says Rajita's father Bhiksham, was to make sure that his 19-year-old handicapped daughter, Venkatamma, get a good home and husband.
"She's deaf-mute. Who will marry her? I had to agree to my younger daughter's marriage too," says Bhiksham.
With Rs 1 lakh in dowry and the younger daughter given to the 25-year-old groom, both the families agreed to let Rajita stay with her parents till she finished her studies.
However, for the older sister Venkatamma, who had shifted to her husband's house, the torture began a few months after the marriage. Her husband and his family threatened that they would "accept" Venkatamma only if Rajita was sent to them.
Nine relatives of Rajita and Venkatamma's husband have been arrested on charges of harassment, dowry demand and threat to life. For now, Venkatamma is back home.
The police is also contemplating action under the Child Marriage Restraint Act against the groom - Saidulu - for marrying Rajita.
Says Deputy Superintendent of Police, Narsinga Rao, "We are taking legal opinion about what action to take against the girl's family."
Authorities say Venkatamma and Rajita's case is not an isolated one. The idea of 'marry one get one free' is becoming fairly common and poverty, social pressure and dowry demands are compelling many families to give into this strange norm.
In Nizamabad's Chinnamavanda village, eight-year-old Sadananda and her physically handicapped elder sister Manjula, were traded off to a labourer from Dharmabad, Maharashtra.
According to the National Family Health Survey 1998-99, Andhra Pradesh has the second largest number of underage marriages in the country, second only to Bihar.
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