Though know-it-all Google got it wrong this time, Rukhmabai was not India’s first practising female physician, but her life needs to be remembered for the pioneering role she played in underlining the plight of child marriage. It was because of the long arduous journey that she undertook, from fighting legal battles at the courts of India, braving jail terms and in writing to the Empress of India, Queen Victoria, that eventually the Age of Consent Bill was passed. The Bill outlawed child marriages across the British Empire.
But something which was outlawed in 1891 continues to persist in India. The age of consent has been constantly revised through the decades. The first Act had the age moved from 10 to 12 for girls. We need to remember that Rukhmabai, when she appealed to the court for the annulment of her marriage, her argument was that she was a minor when she got married at the age of eleven.
Post-independence with the adoption of the Indian constitution of 1950, and then again with another set of changes in 1978, the age of marriage has come to be settled at 18 for girls. But the Age of Consent is a highly contested issue in India. Not only have many religious groups protested against setting an age bar to a marrying couple, the Child Marriage Act gets violated with impunity every day in India.
According to the 2011 Census, almost 4 per cent of girls getting married fall below the age of 18. Though this is a dramatic drop, considering 47 per cent minors were married off in the year 1998, such figures indicate that millions of girls are still getting married without consent. The law categorically states that below the age of 18, a girl is not of the age to give consent and, thus, any conjugal relation will be considered as rape.
Both government and non-governmental organisations studying the situation commented that poverty has a big role to play in the perpetuation of this regressive social custom. Unable to feed, parents often give away their daughters in marriage to much older men. Inextricably linked to poverty is the grave inadequacy of educational opportunities for girls. When girls are not going to school, particularly in rural areas, seemingly the best next options available to them was to get married.
This brings us back to the case of Rukhmabai again. When her husband and in-laws kept pressurising Rukhmabai to join them, she started writing a series of letters in the local newspaper under the pseudonym A Hindu Lady. The letters melted many a heart and garnered a huge amount of support for her cause.
One of the reasons Rukhmabai cited for not wanting to go back to her husband is that she would want to study. Hearing her plea, many came forward to donate. Eventually, a fund was created to support her travel and study in England at the London School of Medicine, 5 years degree course. She subsequently went to England and returned to India as a first qualified physician and worked for many years in Rajkot and Surat.
Rukhmabai’s life became a lesson in service and fight against regressive tradition that pulled back women. Donning a white saree all her life, Rukhmabai will be remembered for “demonstrating (the) courage to intervene against traditions”, as Maharaja of Indore pointed out. Towards the end of her life, she even took up the pen to urge the abolition of Purdah. (Wionews)
(Madhumita Saha)
(Disclaimer: The author writes here in a personal capacity).
