This July when more than 100 women from poor families were married off in a single function in Srinagar, it became a new benchmark to repeat such affairs so that hundreds of other women, who can’t marry because their families can ill-afford to spend vast sums of money, can start a new life with their partners.
And this October, another mass wedding will be taking place where over 50 girls, from district Budgam, will be getting married in a simple marriage ceremony. The event this time will be organized by a voluntary group Aash. And this October, another mass wedding will be taking place where over 50 girls, from district Budgam will be getting married in a simple marriage ceremony. The event this time will be organized by a voluntary group Aash. The first mass wedding was organized by Jafri Council of Kashmir.
The girls who will be tying the knot on the 10th of October this year are girls who are either orphan or are extremely poor and were engaged in the past couple of years, but couldn’t afford to get married.
“My family can’t afford to spend money on my wedding, so I thought it’s better to grab this opportunity than to wait for years to get married. My father is suffering from cardiovascular disease and sits home idle all the day. My younger brother is toiling hard to make ends meet, he doesn’t have enough money to get me married. I have been engaged since two years,” says the 20-year-old girl from the Khag area of Budgam who is among the 50 girls who will be tying the knot.
As reported by Greater Kashmir, over 10,000 girls in Srinagar alone have crossed the marriageable age. During a survey it came to fore that in downtown women belonging to poor families have crossed the age to marry.
Similarly in district Budgam, Qurat –ul-AinMasoodi, who runs the voluntary organization Aash, said that girls whose engagements have been fixed aren’t able to get married because of poverty.
“In an area, I was told, two girls were getting married and someone was asking me to help them. I was not sure whether I will be able to do it or not. But then I tried and instead of two, we got four girls married,” said Qurat.
Then the girls who were engaged, but didn’t have much resource to get married started approaching and now over 50 girls are registered and we are conducting their marriage.
The girls will be getting a pair of shoes, two suits, Burkha, a makeup Kit, gold ear ring, and a sewing machine each from Aash. “We are empowering these girls as well by giving them sewing machines so that they work after marriage as well,” said Qurat.
Women in Jammu and Kashmir are getting married later than women anywhere else. The average age at which women in the state are marrying is nearly 3 years more than the age of marriage in India, states a report women and men in India 2016.
