Abused child brides end marriage

Hyderabad: At a very tender age, both Narsamma and Yadamma have seen and experienced the ugly side of life.

13-year-old Narsamma and 14-year-old Yadamma hail from Parigi village in Alooru mandal, 60 kms from Hyderabad.

Both the girls got married to men twice their age only to realise that they were the second wives of their husbands.

Tortured by in-laws and scorned by their own parents, the two girls took a step that defies the stereotypical victim of child marriage.

In an act of unprecendented bravery, they walked out of the unholy matrimony in the pursuit of their goal ? higher education.

Residents of the same village, the girls, had never met each other before they reached the M V Foundation's Education Camp in Alooru district where they narrated their tale of woes and future aspirations.

Yadamma revealed how her greedy husband tried to kill her when she refused to sleep with his father.

"My husband told me that I can stay with my father-in-law if I don't bring dowry. Until and unless I get home Rs 50,000 and two kilos of gold he asked me satisfy the desires of my father-in-law. When I resented they threw kerosene on me.I ran for my life and now am here,? Yadamma said.

Narasamma had more gory experiences to share.

When she came to know her husband Ramulu is already married, she asked for a divorce.

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Infuriated at her guts, her in-laws and husband demanded Rs 35,000 as punishment for raising her voice.

But Narsamma made clear that she would walk out of the marriage and get back to school.

One night, her husband and mother-in-law poured hot wax into her vagina. She was hospitalised for two months.

"I was in the hospital for two months. But now am very happy now. I will study, may be till tenth or twelfth standard and then do some decent job. My story should be an eye-opener to parents who want their child to get married at a very young age. Nobody else should face the situations I did," she said

The parents and family members of both the girls disowned them.

When they attended M V Foundation's awareness camp in Parigi, they decided that they will not let the drudgeries of the past or the challenges of future trouble them.

At the MV Foundation, they see themselves as not the victims of circumstances but winners of the furture and now want to enjoy their freedom - to study, to live their life the way they want.