Two teenage girls from Hyderabad, who almost became victims of child marriage, have done themselves proud by topping their college examinations.
The two girls, who were rescued from child marriage by an NGO last year, have reportedly scored over 90% marks in the Intermediate Examination on Sunday.
V Sandhya and K Sandhya, residents of Hayathnagar, were rescued by Balala Hakkula Sangham along with the help of the Ranga Reddy district administration in 2016.
K Sandhya, with 93% marks is the college topper, while V Sandhya came second with 92%.
The two childhood friends were earlier studying at St Joseph’s school in Turkayamjal, Hayathnagar. They are now enrolled in the same class at NRI Junior College in Vanasthalipuram after the rescue.
V Sandhya comes from a poor background. In March 2016, her engagement was fixed during her Social Sciences SSC exams.
“Her school teacher alerted us when she was not allowed to give her last exam of that year. Her parents were not too keen about her education but we requested NRI College director Upender to give her admission,” Achyuta Rao told The News Minute.
Meanwhile, V Sandhya was the one who helped in rescuing her friend K Sandhya.
Within two days of the rescue of V Sandhya, K Sandhya’s parents fixed her engagement to her 35-year-old relative.
K Sandhya’s parents had borrowed money from a relative, but were unable to pay it back. In return, the relative asked the parents to either return the full amount or get their daughter married off to him.
The parents took the decision to marry her off and she was engaged to her cousin.
“It was V Sandhya who brought the case to the notice of the Balala Hakkula Sangham. She was also admitted to the same college,” said Achyuta.
"Had I not been prevented from being married to my own cousin, double my age, last year, I would now be leading the life of a homemaker, may be the mother of a child too," K Sandhya told Mumbai Mirror.