This is with reference to Jayanthi Natarajan’s article in Deccan Chronicle dated 20 July 2009 (hyderabad edition).
While I agree with the view that the virginity tests allegedly done on all the 153 brides to be at the venue was wrong, the point where I disagree is where Jayanthi argues that such tests should have also been conducted on the grooms. My question to Mrs. Natarajan is whether doing the tests on grooms would have made the tests on brides acceptable?
I do not believe so. It is neither the problem nor the solution to the problem. I am unaware of what the eligibility criteria for the Mukhya Mantri Kalyan Yojana are, under which the marriages were scheduled to happen.
However, sanity and logic suggests that there should have been a registration process where the details of the groom and bride were to be entered. If it is indeed so, then were atleast one of the several brides and grooms aware of the pregnancy in the females who were tested for pregnancy?
if that was not known, then it is a case of deception which needs to be dealt with differently. Not only that the problem is deeper. Why were the brides who were pregnant being married to someone else? Where was the biological father of the child to be born? If yes, then was her virginity molested forcibly and then abandoned? If yes, then it is an issue that needs to be dealt again in a different manner.
Were the females and the biological fathers of the child to be born engaged in pre-marital sex? If yes, were they aware of the consequences? Is sex education something that would have helped them in their schooling which would have then alerted them about what they were indulging in?
And it is not just the females in this case who need to be made aware. Study needs to be done on why males indulged in such a behavior. What social factors were responsible for them taking these steps?
The real problem and issue lies many layers below the surface scratched by Mrs. Natarajan’s article. Just criticizing the government would do nothing to eradicate the social evil. Social means society and where everyone should be a participant.
