Eight Year Old Girl Divorces Her Husband, 14, In India

Arjun Bakridi - The "husband"An eight year old girl has
become the youngest person ever to be divorced in India after
she was married off aged just four. Fatima Mangre was given
away by her father Anil, from the Shravasti district of Uttar
Pradesh state, in an arranged a marriage with 10-year-old
Arjun Bakridi.

However when the boy arrived four years later to take his new
bride away, Anil said he wanted the girl to wait until she was
18 before leaving.

He said: 'I finally realised that this practice of marrying off
daughters so young was wrong and that she should have a
childhood, and that it was my duty to provide that.' However
Arjun's father Dipak was unhappy with the decision, and an
argument broke out after which Anil filed for divorce.
The state government of India's has called for an inquiry into
the incident that happened last week at Nakhi village in the
Shravasti district of India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
It ordered the probe after the New Delhi-based National
Commission for Women (NCW) member Nirmala Samant
sent a letter, demanding details of the divorce and threatening
action against the parents of the girl and the boy. She said:
'This is a scandal, we need more details before taking action.
The girl's father must answer why he married her off at four
years old and the boy's father must answer why he agreed to
such a marriage and then went to demand the girl when she is
barely eight years old.

'This is insensitive, controversial and objectionable,' she
added. However Fatima's father has already written to NCW,
saying he should be pardoned because he stopped his daughter
from being taken away by her in-laws.
'I have already admitted my mistake. Social pressures are high
in our village. But the marriage has been annulled. I have
admitted it was wrong to marry her off so early,' he said in a
handwritten note.

He added: 'I now want to make things right. I want to give my
daughter a good childhood. I will do everything to protect
her.' Mr Bakridi has gone into hiding following the
altercation. According to UNICEF, over 32.9 percent of the
girls are married against the national average of 22.1 percent
below the legally permissible age of 18 in the state. The
Shravasti district accounts for the majority underage weddings
in India where the female literacy is just 19 per cent.