On a sweltering evening in Rajasthan, 14-year-old Nisha Vaishnav was at football practice when five adult strangers began taking photos of her. They weren’t tourists. They were scouting brides.
The group wanted a wife for their son. “My mother asked me to touch their feet as a mark of respect,” Nisha says. “I refused.”
Child marriage is illegal in India. Girls must be 18 and boys must be 21. Yet the practice persists on a massive scale. About 25% of women in India were married before reaching the legal age, according to UNICEF. An estimated 1.5 million girls are still married each year.
Nisha’s defiance is rare in villages where girls are expected to comply. But football gave her confidence, visibility and, crucially, a reason to say no.
Illegal—and still happening
The law is clear. Facilitating child marriage can lead to two years in prison and a fine of 100,000 rupees. Adults who conduct ceremonies, and parents who permit them, can be prosecuted. But enforcement is weak.
Nisha and her sister Munna’s oldest sister was married off at 16. In fact, their mother, Laali, was also a child bride. When asked if she knew it was illegal, Laali nodded and told the BBC:
We do it quietly, we don’t print a wedding invitation or decorate the house or put up a tent.
According to the BBC,
If a child marriage isn’t reported, it can later be registered when the man and woman are of legal age and no-one will be prosecuted.
The number of cases of child marriage being reported across India has gradually been rising as awareness and enforcement have improved.
Economic pressure fuels the practice of child marriage. In poor rural communities, daughters are often seen as financial burdens. Marrying them young reduces household costs and shifts responsibility to another family. Tradition also reinforces it, as families fear social stigma if girls remain unmarried.
The consequences of child marriage are severe. Child brides face higher risks of sexual coercion, early pregnancy, malnutrition, and poor health. Many drop out of school, locking them into cycles of poverty and dependence.
Football as resistance
For Nisha and her 19-year-old sister Munna, football became a shield.
They joined Football for Freedom, a program under the Mahila Jan Adhikar Samiti women’s rights group. Since 2016, it has trained 800 girls across 13 villages, using sport to build confidence — and bargaining power.
The backlash was immediate. As the BBC reports:
For the first two to three days, village women would point to us and say, ‘Look at those girls exposing their legs.’ We ignored them, decided we didn’t care, and continued wearing shorts.
In 2024, Nisha played for the Rajasthan state team at the National Football Championship. She cut her hair short — another act of rebellion.
When her father accused her of chasing a boy at practice, she shot back: “There is no lover. I am going to play football – that is my love.”
The proposal that began on the football field was eventually withdrawn. Another joint proposal involving both sisters followed. They resisted again.
Nisha now dreams of playing for India’s national team. If not, she hopes football will help her secure a government job reserved for athletes — and with it, financial independence.
Meanwhile, Munna trains younger girls and counsels them against early marriage. She explains:
Whether I am able to stop their marriage or not, I want to help them become something in life, realise their dreams.
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