Durgapur Correspondent: She has stopped not just one or two, but 51 child marriages. In the locality, she is now known to everyone as ‘Didimoni’ (Teacher) and ‘Dashabhuja’ (a figure possessing ten arms, symbolizing immense strength and capability).
Shilpi Pal, a resident of Durgapur in her thirties, swings into action the moment she hears of a child marriage. Braving storms, rain, and the odd hours of the night, she arrives directly at the wedding venue accompanied by the police and administration. She compels guardians to sign a written undertaking stating, “We will not marry off our daughter before she turns eighteen.”
Her crusade began ten years ago when she stopped the marriage of Mousumi, an eighth-grade student. Mousumi’s family had intended to marry her off to support the household, as her father was ill; however, Mousumi wanted to continue her education. That marked the beginning of Shilpi’s fight.
Today, Mousumi is a nurse at a private hospital. Many others saved through Shilpi’s intervention are now pursuing higher education or holding jobs. Some have even started families—but only after standing on their own feet and completing their education.
Shilpi has faced considerable harassment while doing this work. Three years ago, in Jemua, she narrowly escaped a mob beating after arriving with the police to halt a wedding on the very day it was scheduled to take place. The situation was eventually brought under control by the school’s headmaster.
Shilpi says, “May Bengal recover from the ‘disease’ of child marriage.”
Beyond preventing child marriages, she has also helped identify eight unclaimed bodies found on railway tracks and assisted in handing them over to their respective families.
