By IANS
Shimla : A woman in a polyandrous marriage with two brothers in a tribal valley Himachal Pradesh has knocked on the doors of justice to seek maintenance after being abandoned by them.
Shobha Devi, in her 30s, who hails from Kinnaur, some 250 km from here, claims she is a victim of the age-old polyandry system whereby a set of brothers marries one woman so that the scarce agricultural land doesn’t get divided among the siblings.
She has three daughters from her 15-year-old marriage to the brothers.
But Devi has complained to the state women’s commission that after deserting her, the brothers now have individual wives. She has approached the commission asking that she be given maintenance for her upkeep.
The system of polyandry was once common in tribal Kinnaur, a mountainous region bordering Tibet, but has declined dramatically in the past few decades due to rapid growth in education and economy in the region.