Hyderabad: Love-struck girls land up in shelter homes

HYDERABAD: Teens and tweens, tread cautiously. About 400 girls aged between 12 and 18 years were brought to Sakhi (women support centres run by the government) for counselling after they eloped with boyfriends. After being caught by police on complaints filed by their parents, these runaway girls are brought to either child welfare committees or Sakhi centres.
The Sakhi centres, though meant to be five-day shelters and counselling support for women above 18 years of age, are getting more such cases of minor girls in the past two years. Unaware of the consequences of POCSO Act, the boyfriends after being caught by the police are, again, mostly minors.According to B Girija, project director of these centres, most girls come from lower middle class families and often elope out of fear of family rejecting their choice due to caste. “Every elopement case cannot be attributed to immaturity of girls only. But we see there is a heavy influence of cinema. Easy communication due to access to mobile phones is also a reason. District child welfare committees are getting a rising number of such cases and they are referred to us.” Cases of being cheated are also high, she said.

Nalgonda has highest number of elopement cases
At the support centre, the girls are kept for five days, and counselled irrespective of their being married to their lover or not. They are convinced to go back home. “But in some cases, parents feel the family name has been dishonoured and refuse to take them back. In such cases, we refer them to the state home at Hyderabad, where they get shelter and life-skill training,” said Manjula, a counsellor at Mahbubnagar Sakhi Centre.
Among districts, Nalgonda has the highest number of such cases. “Not only in Nalgonda but across the state these girls usually come from marginalised sections. We see their families react very sternly. These girls elope because they fear their families will not agree to their choice. If the families handle the situation with tact, such cases will come down,” said Nalini, an administrator of Nalgonda Sakhi Centre.
Hyderabad, interestingly, has only 12 such cases, which is among lowest with such referrals to Sakhi centres.
Social activist V Sandhya of Progressive Organisation of Women (PoW) advises caution. “The police should not treat every case as just elopement. There could be societal and family reasons. As we are not an open society that respect girls’ choices, caste and class also play a role. However, we must teach these children, both boys and girls, that eloping while being a minor, and without the financial means, will lead to problems. I would add that just because they are 18, they should not run away and marry. Also, it’s important they have the ability to survive on their own financially.”
Without the means to survive, these girls just land up in a shelter home, alone and abandoned.