UTTAR PRADESH (INDIA)
CNN
June 18, 2018
By Masuma Ahuja
Rajni Devi liked school and had big dreams. She was not going to end up like so many other girls in India: married off as a child bride.
Rajni was 14 years old when her mother told her she must get married, but she refused. She was determined to stay in school, and she wasn’t ready to be a mother yet.
However, for a girl in rural India, it wasn’t as simple as just saying no.
According to UNICEF, India has the highest number of child brides in the world, with about 17 million children between the ages of 10 and 19 in the country who are married.
This despite the fact that child marriage in India was officially outlawed in 2006. And earlier this year, in an attempt to protect child brides, India’s Supreme Court ruled that sex with minors was considered rape.
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