A part of Zenith’s team, Anjani Dubey is a community worker at Samudayik Adhikar Kendra in Malanpur, Gwalior. Visiting villages and interacting with people is a major part of the work she does. People often open up to her with their experiences and stories, which make one reflect on the realities of society. Anjani brings you the story of Devi’s life below.

One day I met Devi during a field visit. In Malanpur, she lives in a rented house in Khugan-ke-pura. She told me, “When I was 11 years old, I was married off to a 25-year-old man. My village is Bharatpur in Rajasthan, where girls used to be married off at a young age and even today it happens so.”

Slowly time passed by and when she was 15 years old, she gave birth to a boy, her first child. At 17 she gave birth to a girl and everyone around suggested she kill the girl. “One day my father-in-law put tobacco in my daughter’s mouth. Seeing this, my son came up to me and told me baba had fed something to sister. When I went to check up on my daughter, I saw that she was crying. I immediately took out the tobacco from her mouth and since then I decided to never let her stay away from me”, said Devi recounting her resolve.

She continued, “After a few months my second son was born. Two months after the birth of my son, my husband passed away. After that my husband’s elder brother started forcefully harassing me and even started bringing people. One day I met the mukhiya of the village. I told him my problem and even he took advantage of my plight. Even then I did not remain silent and I went to the police station with my children. There I found my brother-in-law already sitting so the police officer shooed me away from there”.

“I returned home”, she said dejectedly.

“One day when I had gone out to defecate, I met Ramesh Gaud. He had come to visit his sister. I met him a couple of times and then I told him all my problems and he agreed to help me”, she said. The help was a guiding light for her.

She decided to leave her village. “One night, I along with my children left the house and came to Gwalior, which led me to Malanpur’s Sindhwaari village. I started living in Jatav Mohalla.”

To find work, Devi started working in PriyaGold Biscuit’s company and her children used to stay back at home. “One day, a man who used to live in the neighbourhood tried to assault my daughter”, she recounts being all alone with no support. Everyone scared her off with threats and she remained silent.

Seeing no respite, she decided to marry Ashok Prajapati. He used to work in the same company as her. His wife had passed away a few years ago. “I told him my story and he married me in a temple”, she said. This is how she started living with him. “He brought me to his house in Rithora village. There his mother and sister used to live; his father was no more”, she described her third move to a new village.

“In the beginning, a few days passed by happily. But then his mother started troubling my children”, she said. Seeing her children being troubled, she decided to leave the house. She left and came to Hariram ka Pura and rented one room. This is where she met Neelam Pal. “She is a very nice woman, she has four daughters and her husband works in Jamna Auto’s company and Neelam ji works in a madam’s house in Gwalior. So her daughters stay at home and they even look after my children”, Devi recounted this with relief.

“I, now, work at Parle G company and look after raising my children,” she declared. The fourth move being the final one where she found respite.