The Hindu : `Ditched' girl seeks justice at gram sabha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 09, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

`Ditched' girl seeks justice at gram sabha

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUPATI Jan. 8. Her woes seem to be unending. Still she did not cry. Not that she had run out of tears after a prolonged spell of trauma, but was stubborn and determined which are visible from her direct and succinct demands made at the Janmabhoomi gram sabha.

Jada Lavanya is a dalit girl. And a mother too, at the age of sixteen. As if this is not enough, her husband had ditched her just two days after her marriage. With her three-month-old son in hand, she came to the gram sabha seeking justice.

It was an altogether different case for the Janmabhoomi officials, who witnessed the heart-rending scene on Wednesday at the gram sabha in Mungilipattu village of Chandragiri mandal, 25 km from here. After shunted from pillar to post and with no other option left, she homed in on the village centre and came right to officials, requesting for a way-out for her and her child.

Instead of the usual pomp which mark any wedding, that of Lavanya was home to an unusual gloom and grief, as she was seven months pregnant at that time. Jada Sudhakar, also an SC, who had a sexual affair with her with the promise of a marriage, abused and questioned her virtue on coming to know of her pregnancy and had even claimed innocence. The wedding had to be conducted in Chandragiri police station on August 30 last, as Sudhakar flatly refused to marry her.

The nuptial delight did not last long as Sudhakar fled the village a couple of days later. Lavanya's in-laws refused to acknowledge the wedding, leave alone letting her in. Further, it was alleged that they had demanded a dowry of Rs.30,000 and five sovereigns of gold, which was too much for a poor labour family.

On November 5, she gave birth to a baby boy, which too could not convince her hard-hearted in-laws, who not only refused to accept the infant as their grandson, and even denied Lavanya's information on her husband.

It was at this moment that the ill-fated girl arrived at the Janmabhoomi gram sabha with her three-month-old son, Rakesh, and her mother Akkala Chandramma in tow. She blamed the ZPTC member Ramesh Reddy and the police and mandal officials, who were instrumental in getting her married to Sudhakar for not taking any step to trace her husband, despite several representations.

Speaking to The Hindu, she said her husband's sister Guna, working in the TTD's Balamandir and a resident of Chennareddy colony in Tirupati, was running the show and preventing a re-union with her husband. She also suspected that Sudhakar might be living at his sister's place.

The police say that they did not receive any formal complaint from the girl or her family members so far. When contacted, B. Mallikarjuna Gupta, the new sub-inspector of Chandragiri, promised to initiate an inquiry if a formal complaint was lodged. It is surprising to note that the marriage of a minor girl took place in the police station in the very presence of officials.

The sad story of Lavanya may not take time to reach a happy climax if the revenue and police officials initiated action, as promised by them in the presence of the entire village.

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