"Our Rights Are Not Optional"
- Deepika Mandal, Child Marriage survivor and activist, Nepal
Justice for children does not enforce itself. It takes people. Mobilisers are the children, survivors, faith leaders, and grassroots organisations who demand that crimes against children are taken seriously and prosecuted.
This is the story of Deepika who chose her own future and is now helping other girls
choose theirs.
In Bara District, Nepal, where poverty, dowry practices, and generations of tradition make child marriage feel inevitable — a 21-year-old named Deepika Mandal showed that it is not.
At 16, while studying in Grade 10, Deepika's parents arranged her marriage. She had never heard that child marriage is a crime. Her father told her no such law existed.
That changed when Jana Jagriti Yuba Club (JJYC), a local civil society organisation supported by Just Rights for Children, brought a community awareness session, based on the network’s PICKET framework, to her village. Deepika learned she had rights. Then she did something most individuals in her community could not: she acted on them.
She approached the organisation for support. They visited her home, counselled her parents, and sustained the dialogue until the marriage was cancelled. She went back to school.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
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"In Madhesh, child marriage steals childhoods in broad daylight even though the law says it is a crime. I stood up for myself so other girls know they can stand up too.
We are not burdens to be married off. We are human beings with rights. And those rights are worth fighting for."
​​Her friends who were married as children, faced early motherhood and economic hardship. Their opportunities were narrowed before their futures had a chance to flourish. This is why, Deepika believes
"taking legal action matters. It creates deterrence. It sends a message. Our rights are not optional, and our futures are not for negotiation."
Today, Deepika is in her third year of a Bachelor of Business Studies degree. She works to support herself and her family. And she speaks publicly against child marriage, so other girls understand what she wishes she had known sooner.