“No form of culture or religion should exploit women and children” – Kriti Bharti

Rashida* had not even turned 3 years old before she was ceremonially married to an older boy by her parents. Since she was just a child, she wasn’t told that she had been married off by her parents. Rashida did not find out about her marriage until after she got her first menstrual period.

“I was surprised when I learned about my marriage, and I didn’t want to go to my husband’s home. My parents did not heed my objections, and also pointed out that our family would be ostracized if I did not agree. I met Kriti didi [sister] during this time,” said the now-22-year-old, referring to her rehabilitation psychologist named Kriti Bharti who is also a women’s rights activist from Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. This is also Rashida’s home state.

Bharti helped annul Rashida’s marriage in 2022. Now Rashida is studying for her bachelor’s degree in education with the goal of becoming a teacher.

Bharti is dedicated to helping girls just like Rashida. Saarthi Trust, founded in 2011 is a nonprofit established by Bharti to fight child marriage and empower vulnerable women and girls. Since 2011, she has helped legally annul 49 child marriages and prevented more than 1,700 girls from being “solemnized” in ceremonial engagements. Bharti has also aided in rehabilitating of over 20,500 children and women. Bharti who is active in promoting empowerment has conducted orientation programs that resulted in 35,000 villagers taking oaths to resist child marriages.

Climate change and war have been linked to increasing child marriages around the world. With increases in volatile weather and social deterioration from war, low income families or those living in poverty have chosen commoditized their daughters on order to survive. Limited income and resources, means that children, especially females are sold into marriages for financial reasons.

“I’m working on eradicating the disease of child marriage, which is steeped in tradition. I don’t consider this a part of culture because no form of culture or religion should exploit women and children”

– Kriti Bharti

With more than 15.6 million child brides, India has the highest number of such marriages in the world. Young girls only a few days old are married to older boys. Often the matches arranged by the girl’s parents mainly for financial purposes. Once the girl reaches puberty, she is forced to live with her husband’s family. Despite laws outlawing the practice, child marriages are still common in India. Leading to sexual and domestic abuse, underage pregnancies, school dropouts, dowry-related violence and in some cases even murder.

How does Bharti annul child marriages? First she speaks to both families. Counsel and encouragement is provided to dissolve the arrangement mutually which often works. She explains that it’s detrimental to the health and well-being of the child, and that the match was made without the consent.

If this doesn’t work and the families don’t come to an agreement to annul the marriage, Bharti turns to authorities to enforce laws to obtain the annulment. It can take time to annul a child marriage in India. This is because every marriage is dependant on unique circumstance which make every case complex to resolve.

For her valiant efforts to save children, Bharti is often threatened with rape and death, and multiple attempts have been made to kidnap her. Yet she’s undeterred to protect children especially the most vulnerable, young girls.

“Someone can kill me only once and I’ll have to be born again to be killed a second time. And by the time I’m killed, I will have saved 10 more lives.” Bharti said with conviction.

Bharti had a difficult childhood, which she believes prepared her for activism.

“You must be brave to be in this kind of work, I didn’t choose this field. This field chose me.” Bharti confirmed with passion.

Bharti’s mother was abandoned by her husband before she was born. Most of her mother’s relatives wanted her mother to abort the fetus and remarry, to avoid the societal stigma of giving birth to a child whose father had left them. But Bharti’s mother resisted this pressure and gave birth to little Kriti.

Bharti was born premature with a number of medical complications. At the age of 10, she was poisoned by a relative who considered her to be a curse. She was in acute pain, almost paralyzed, and bedridden for more than two years.

Her mother tried allopothy, homeopathy and ayurveda, and Bharti visited many doctors and hospitals in the country, but there was no improvement in her condition. Finally, nine months of continuous Reiki therapy helped her heal. She said she learned to sit, crawl and walk again as a 12-year-old.

“I experienced hardship in childhood so that I could be strong. Perhaps nature was preparing me for this work,” Bharti reflects.

Bharti transforms from her assault. After she had healed from the incident, Bharti made a decision against the wishes of her family. Her original surname was Chopra, but she officially changed it to Bharti, which means “India’s daughter.”

In India, surnames are usually indicative of one’s identity in terms of caste, religion and social hierarchy. By changing her surname, she was creating her own unique identity, devoid of any social markers: “I just want to be known as the daughter of my country.”

During her youth, Bharti worked with several nongovernmental organizations, through which, she said, she learned about rampant social injustices and the value of service to society. She worked with rape survivors, HIV/AIDS patients, children with disabilities, and victims of child labor and child marriage. Soon she realized that there was hardly anyone working at the grassroots level to stop child marriages.

For her work through Saarthi Trust, Bharti has received numerous awards. She has been honored as a changemaker by the organization Girls Not Brides. In late 2022, she was presented with the Youth Human Rights Champion Award by the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue.

“When a girl comes to me, her livelihood, education and shelter … everything becomes my responsibility. Counseling is just a small part of the whole process.”

– Kriti Bharti

Bharti talks about how limited funds still do not prevent her organization from helping girls with every facet of recovery. Despite this, she said she’s never turned down a request for assistance from any girl. Her only condition is that the girls must go back to school to complete their education.

Bharti dreams of a time when child marriages are known only as a terrible thing of the past.

“One day,” she said, “we should be able to say, ‘Once upon a time, there was something called child marriage.’”

*Her name has been changed to protect her identity.