SURKHET, Oct 25: Born into a priest family, Balram Upadhyaya was 15 years old when he was married to 11 year old Kushma Devi. Upadhyaya, now 70, regrets performing rituals for child marriages.
“I feel like I have committed a crime of performing rituals for child marriages,” says Upadhyaya, who has now joined forces with other priests in an attempt to make Surkhet a child marriage free area.
He not only regrets marrying off underage couples, but also the difficulties he had to face due to his own early marriage. “Three of our nine children died within a year. Perhaps, if I had been of age that would have never happened,” shares Upadhyaya, who is in Birendranagar to convene with nearly two dozen priests.
A commitment letter to eradicate child marriage was signed by the priests in Birendranagar.
“When someone comes to me, I always ask for some form of official identification, either their citizenships or Village Development Committee (VDC) documents,” informs Min Prasad Kafle, a priest at Latokoili. “If they are underage I refuse to perform the rituals.” He rues that of the 500 wedding rituals he has conducted so far, 50 involved underage children.
Yam Lal Paudel of Ghum Kahare is also determined to fight against this social evil. “It is difficult to completely reject marriage ceremonies,” says Paudel. “Therefore, I am trying to find other ways to placate clients by counseling them.”
“We will not be able to do away with the ill-practice of child marriages until we convince the priests,” asserts Assistant Professor, Pitam Dhakal, who is one of the leaders of the campaign. There are nearly 500 priests in Surkhet. The campaign against child marriages was initiated by local governmental and non-governmental organizations in Surkhet a year ago.
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