I want to study, not marry, Muslim girl tells high court

The 14-year-old girl, whose family members were arrested by the police in December 2009 for trying to get her married, told the Bombay high court on Monday that she wanted to study and pursue a career in medicine.

Justice DB Bhosale and justice AR Joshi seemed impressed after talking with the girl. “We found her to be very intelligent,” Bhosale said. “It is unfortunate that the parents wanted to marry her off.”
Unlike her mother, she knew the name of the woman sarpanch of her village, which left the judges impressed. The girl, who had scored 71% in her school exams in the last year, was handed over to her parents after they gave an undertaking that they would not get her married till she turned 18.

Zakia Begum, the girl’s mother, had moved the court through a habeas corpus petition seeking custody of her daughter. The child welfare committee had taken the girl to AD Bawla Children’s Welfare Home in Versova.

The court also sought the appointment of an officer to keep a watch on the girl so that her parents do not breach the undertaking they gave to the court. If the parents violated the undertaking, an injunction would be appropriate, advocate Mihir Desai and additional solicitor general DJ Khambata said.

While the Restraint of Child Marriage (RCM) Act, 1929, stipulates 18 as the minimum age for a girl to get married, the Muslim personal law says a girl can get married as soon as she reaches puberty. The court is still to decide which of the two laws prevail.
The case will come up for hearing on April 1.