Class X girl who stopped own marriage at 15 to meet Irani

Berhampur: Suprabha Subhadarshini Behera, a tribal girl from Kandhamal district’s Phiringia block, will interact with Union minister for woman and child development Smriti Irani at a conference to mark International Day of the Girl Child in New Delhi on Tuesday. Suprabha, with the help of Childline and the district administration, stopped her own marriage planned by her parents earlier this year. After passing Class X from Kasturba Gandhi Girls’ School, Chakapad, she then began campaigning against child marriage in her district.
Eventually, the 16-year-old got admission into an electrical trade course at Daringbadi industrial training institute. She is among the six adolescent girls in the country, who are getting non-traditional livelihood training from various institutes. “I am very excited to meet the Union minister. I will share the difficulties such as poverty, lack of education and child marriage that adolescent girls in our district face,” said Suprabha.