I wanted to study and live my life like any other 12-year-old but instead was burdened with marriage to a man almost 15 years my senior.

Many organizations have come forward to help girls like me but we are made helpless because of our poverty. The Indian government has also amended its child marriage restraint act. It is now called Child Marriage Prohibition Act and it has given us the opportunity to look towards a better future and annul forced marriages.

After my marriage, my husband beat me up regularly and my in-laws were hostile towards me. In the end, I was sent back to my parent’s home, a small village about 100kms from Kolkata.

By that time I was a broken woman mentally. Physically too I was broken by the constant beatings. Giving birth at an early age has also ravaged my body. I went temporarily blind after the birth of my son. Now, I break into a sweat throughout the day and if I hurt myself or there is some tension, my head hurts so much that I feel like I am going mad. I suffered from jaundice, which affected my liver after childbirth.

I couldn’t work and fell ill often. But things were no better at my parents' home. They were angry that the 'burden' they had got rid of was back in their house - bringing the added burden of grandchildren.

Now I'm 17, and working as a maid, but every day is a struggle. I have two children to bring up alone - my husband pays nothing to help feed them. I was a bit older, maybe I could have coped better. But I just didn't know how I was supposed to react.

And I was not alone in my plight. Most of my friends shared the same fate as I did. My friend Sujata, was also married off at 13. Her husband often tried to strangle her and killed her six-month-old child in a fit of rage.

I have seen friends of mine being married off at 12, 13, 14 years of age and then deserted by their husbands - or worse still being killed by them. I feel sad even thinking about my friend Karabi, who faced the same torture as I did from her in-laws. When she couldn’t bear it anymore she went back home. However, her husband convinced her to go back to him and the next morning she was found dead. They said she had committed suicide but there were strangulation marks on her throat.

I can understand my parents' point of view. They are day labourers – they cannot afford a daughter sitting at home. The younger they marry us off, the lesser dowry they have to pay. It is also one less mouth to feed.

Girls like me are not wanted anywhere and I dream of a corner under the sky I can claim for myself and my children.

Tumpa Halder told her story to Sweeble correspondent Nilanjana Bhattacharya, in India.