There's a new national hero in India: a 12-year-old girl named Rehka. She lives in a small mud hut in a village a day's journey from Calcutta.

The region has one of the highest rates of illiteracy in India, and girls are often married young. At age 12, Rehka's parents told her she had to get married. She said no. Word of her refusal made headlines around the country, and since then, parents in surrounding villages have not forced their young daughters to marry.

Ben Arnoldy reported this story for the Christian Science Monitor and discusses it with host Peggy Wehmeyer.

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