Sonu Kanwar travels to schools and panchayat offices to address small community meetings on the rights of women.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
On a mission to challenge the deep-seated societal norm of child marriage in the region, a 28-year-old Rajput woman in a remote village of Rajasthan’s Ajmer district rides her two-wheeler through dusty roads to generate awareness in rural communities. Her efforts have succeeded in stopping about a dozen child marriages so far.
Sonu Kanwar, a resident of Bhanwta village in Ajmer’s Pisangan block, was herself married at the age of 12. She also faced the challenge of early motherhood when she gave birth to triplets at the age of 17.
When Ms. Kanwar travels on her two-wheeler to schools and panchayat offices to address small community meetings, she commands both awe and respect. Few young women have dared to openly question the tradition of child marriage without fearing consequences as she does while telling people about the laws against the practice.
Ms. Kanwar’s sharp and unwavering gaze spares no one as no attempt to engage in child marriage goes unnoticed under her watch. With unstoppable courage, the young woman identifies cases of children being married and brings them to the notice of the police, initiating the process for securing an undertaking from the parents.
Ms. Kanwar’s own marriage as a child was not an exception but the norm in her village, and nobody paid heed to its illegality. Her parents decided to arrange her marriage on the same day her older sister was getting married. “I was completely clueless as a 12-year-old child. I had dreams, but no one listened to me,” Ms. Kanwar told The Hindu.
Her husband, Laxman Singh, was also underage at the time of their wedding. Years later, Mr. Singh has become his wife’s strongest supporter and cheerleader in her fight to end child marriage in her community. Ms. Kanwar said both of them realised how injustice had been done to them.
After her marriage, Ms. Kanwar remained with her parents for a couple of years, trying to hold on to her studies. She was soon sent to live with her husband, and life took a turn when she gave birth to triplets, all girls, at the age of just 17. Apart from the physical strain, the emotional toll on her was even greater.
“I went through immense pain and struggles while bringing up my three daughters. With every pain I endured, my resolve to fight against child marriage only grew stronger,” Ms. Kanwar said.
She initially started spreading awareness among young girls in her neighbourhood while giving them tuitions, and later joined a non-government organisation, the Rajasthan Mahila Kalyan Mandal, working for child rights as a partner in the ‘Just Rights for Children’ initiative.
As she started visiting different places to raise awareness on the laws against child marriage, Ms. Kanwar once spotted a baraat (marriage procession) when she was on her way to a nearby village. “When I saw that a young boy, not more than 10 years old, was riding the horse, I was sure that it was a child marriage,” she said.
Ms. Kanwar followed the baraat for almost two hours and informed the NGO’s members about the impending child marriage. “The guests changed into casual dresses inside the bus when they saw me following them. They threatened me and asked me to go back,” she said.
After a chase of almost 50 km, Ms. Kanwar, along with her companions, successfully intervened and stopped the child marriage. In a similar manner, she has not only saved about 12 children, but prevented hundreds of future child marriages, with word spreading about police intervention, parents forced to sign undertakings, and guests being reprimanded for participating in the crime.
Ms. Kanwar’s own life could have ended in abuse, hopelessness, and fear, quite like many other children who are married too young, but she mustered the courage to chart her path differently. Both she and her husband hope that their efforts will help build a society where they will no longer need to do this.
“The day everyone sends their children to school and no child is forced into marriage will bring an ideal social environment for all of us,” Ms. Kanwar said as she geared up for another school awareness session to raise a voice that is heard and not stifled.
Published – April 19, 2025 08:51 pm IST