Child in child's lap
A girl in her early teens was standing beside a road at Horisabhapara village in Itakhola union of Sadar upazila with her baby daughter on the lap, a sight not so uncommon among the backward Badia community in the area.
Talking to this correspondent a few days ago, the girl said she is Shilpi Rani, daughter of Punya Wrishi, belonging to the scheduled caste people at the village.
The nomadic community people earn livelihood by beating drums rhythmically at Hindu religious festivals and making musical drums with cattle hide.
"When I was reading in Class V at the age of eleven in 2012, my parents married me off with an aged day labourer of Balagram village in Jaldhaka upazila," said the girl.
Her schooling came to an abrupt end and the pressure of household work along with utter poverty robbed her of sweet childhood days amid the company of classmates and other friends.
Shilpi's father Punya Wrishi said he married off his daughter at a tender age as he was worried about her security.
"If local delinquents did any harm to her, there was hardly any hope of getting justice from the society leaders as we are poor scheduled caste people," he said.
After one year of marriage, Shilpi gave birth to a girl child at her father's house, without any prenatal and postnatal support from medical professionals.
"After two weeks of giving birth, my daughter lost the ability to move her right hand and leg. She has continued staying at our house with her child. Her husband is unwilling to take her to his home as she can't do household work as before," said Shilpi's mother Chanpa Rani.
The pain of carrying a child and giving birth at a premature age led to Shilpi's ailment, said Dr Abdur Rashid, health and family planning officer of Sadar upazila.
Sudhangshu Roy, a freedom fighter of Horisabhapara village, said marrying off daughters at early age is a regular matter among the Badia community as they are unaware about its bad effects and a sense of insecurity haunts them.
Only a few children of Badia community get admission to school while they often drop out due to early marriage or poverty, said Sankar Kumar Roy, headmaster of a local high school.
Chairman of Itakhola union parishad Hafizur Rashid Monju said they always campaign against child marriage but poor people of Badia community often arrange their children's marriage secretly without registration.
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