She annulled the first Child Marriage in India
Her name was recorded in Limca Book of Records, World Records India as well as in the syllabus of CBSE curriculum for creating history.
The fastest marriage annulment in 3 days recorded in Unique World Records, India Book of Records & World Records India
She made a hat-trick record on Akshay Tritya which was recorded in World Records India.
She is none other than Kriti, who took Rajasthan on top for annulment of child marriages.
This is a story of a Jodhpur girl Kriti Bharti who has pledged to end the curse of child marriage from the country and has been fighting all odds to ensure that the girls stand on their own to make a decent living for themselves.
Till date, she has annulled 40 child marriages and has helped stop 1400 child marriages.
Liberating many girl children from the clutches of child marriages, Kriti has become the guardian and mother of “balika vadhus” (child brides) and has been looking after their education and other basic needs.
“I witnessed many such marriages where innocent children were forced to follow age-old traditions, which were ruining their lives,” she said.
“Trying to search solutions to end this social evil, I started searching for a legal remedy and discussed the situation with legal experts. Then came up with the idea of annulment of such illegal child marriages,” she added.
In 2012, she started Saarthi Trust in Jodhpur and has been working as a rehabilitation psychologist and managing trustee of the organisation.
In all these years, Kriti has given a fresh lease of life to many girls after annulling their child marriages.
“Annulment of child marriage means the marriage which took place years ago which is legally announced null and void. After annulment, the boys and girls who tied the knot of child marriage are freed from this bond,” she explained.
The story of annulment of child marriage started with one Laxmi Sargara, who had came to Kriti seeking help.
Her marriage was successfully annulled and it made history as it was a first such marriage annulment in the country, which did set a precedent for future cases. This also brought national and international fame to Kriti and her organisation.
Kriti finds a place in several record books for the first annulment of a child marriage in the country.
In fact, her campaign also finds a place in the syllabus of class XI and XII of Central Board of Secondary Education.
Her efforts has started yielding fruits as Jodhpur in Rajasthan which was once infamous for solemnising the highest number of child marriages in the country, is now bringing a paradigm change and the numbers are slowly coming down which is proved by the fact that the city tops the list in the country for the most number of child marriage annulments.
Kriti’s efforts have helped annul 40 child marriages so far, which took place years ago. She made a record of preventing thousands of child marriages and has found a place in record books like Limca Book of Records and World Records India, and Unique Book of World Records.
In 2016, her name was registered in World Record India, India Book of Records and Unique World Records for nullifying three child marriages in three days.
Kriti also works for rehabilitation of child labourers, victims of child trafficking and child abuse besides working for annulment of child marriages and has rehabilitated more than 7,000 children and more than 6000 women.
The young girl in fact faced many brutal attacks and threats while working to stop child marriages but she stands stood on her determination and hence has been making a mark on global map too.
Way to go Kriti for creating more success stories..!