| Tuesday, May 17, 2005 |
| MAN LOPS OFF HANDS OF WOMAN PROTESTING CHILD MARRIAGE IN INDIA |
NEW DELHI -- A man with a sword cut off the hands of a government social worker in central India for trying to stop child marriages, officials said Wednesday. The attack on the woman highlighted the difficulty of ending the centuries old practice in the region.
Shakuntala Verma, a supervisor with the Department of Women and Child Development in Madhya Pradesh sate was attacked Tuesday night in Bhangarh village, Superintendent of Police H.L. Borana was quoted as saying by Press Trust of India.
Festival sees hundreds paired off.
Wednesday marked a Hindu festival in which hundreds of minors are married off.
No arrests have been made in the attack in Bhangarh, 170 west of the state capital, Bhopal.
Child marriage is illegal in India, but the ancient practice is prevalent in some rural pockets of Madhya Pradesh.
However, the number of marriages was down this year as a result of tough measures taken by police, the New Delhi Television News channel reported.
Verma had been protesting child marriages in the area, officials said.
In New Delhi, Chief Minister Babulal Gaur, the state's administrator, said it was not possible to end the practice with legal measures.
"The (law) to prevent child marriage is so ancient. But even after so many decades of the law coming into being, child marriages continue to take place. We cannot stop it forefully. What is required is awareness'" he said.
(Abstracred ro CHICSUNTIMES/Associated Press) |
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