You wouldn’t know she’s a widow until you spend over an hour talking to her about her family. In the midst of this, Asma suddenly begins gasping for breath as she cries copiously. Her smudged kajal defines the stream in which her tears flow down her rosy cheeks. Her puffed up eyes reflect the tiredness on her face. As if she has cried the night before I met her. Recollecting her husband’s death, the 40-year-old woman says bluntly “he died of cardiac arrest.&rdqu
Splashing water on her face, in a morbid tone, she says: “I’m not crying because he died. I’m upset because he hasn’t written the property on my name.” She continues, “How should I take care of all the children? I do not work. So, where will I get the money from?” The irksome expression was an indication of a harrowing life she underwent after her wedding.
“Why should I cry for him?” she asks, adding that she was robbed of childhood because she was married off at the age of 13 to Sajid, a man 23 years older than her. Gradually unravelling her wedding diaries, Asma says, “This man had come to Hyderabad from Oman. He stayed at a motel which was a stone’s throw away from my house in the Old City.”
“Being a “richie rich”, he managed to win over my parents by offering monetary help during difficult times,” she reveals. In return, he wanted me, she says. “My marriag
“He had three wives and 16 children. The old man wanted me only for sex,” she laments, adding that she has three kids with him.
Six months after her wedding, Asma told her husband that she wanted to go back to Hyderabad. “He said yes to that. I was happy I wouldn’t be in chains anymore.” He used to visit us once or twice a year, she reveals.
Taking a deep breath, she says, “Hum logon mein ye sab chalte rehta! Bahut shadiyaan hote yahan tho, (It is a common practice among us, Muslims. Child marriages are rampant in Old City),” in the native Hyderabadi language.
The PCMA
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) of 2006 states that a “child” or minor under this law is defined as someone below 18 years of age, in the case of girls and 21 years, in the case of boys.
Under the Act, a male adult above 18 years of age, who marries a child, shall be punishable with rigorous imprisonment extending to two years or with a fine of up to Rs.1 lakh or both.
“Whoever performs, conducts, directs or abets a child marriage, including parents or an organisation will also face similar punishment,” it says.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) defines a child as a person below 18 years and identifies the rights of children. A woman’s right to free and informed choice in the matter of a marital relationship is a fundamental human right which is secured by the provisions of a number of international human rights instruments, says Article 23 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
These international organisations enumerate various human rights standards for the protection of children, choice of relationship and the age at marri
Arab Nationals
But, Asma’s example reflects the prevalence of child marriages among Hyderabad’s minority community. Reasons for this can be attributed to the heavy influx of people from Saudi Arabia, Oman and other Gulf countries into Old City.
According to activists, the “fixed-term matrimony” practice began in the 1970s after the Gulf countries banned their citizens from bringing home minor foreign brides.
Hyderabad has been a hunting ground for Gulf Arabs seeking young, virgin brides. This racket came to light in the early 1990s when an alert air hostess rescued a weeping pre-teen, Ameena, from her 60-year-old Arab husband, on a flight out of Hyderabad.
M.A. Shakeel of Human Rights Law Network says the incidence of child marriages is high in Old City of Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh. “These foreign nationals come on a conditionality stating they are distant relatives of a person living in Old City or that they are physically disabled,” Shakeel adds.
Temporary marriage contracts called Mutah happen in Old city. Generally, aged and wealthy Arab nationals visit India, especially Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, to prey on teenage girls by paying fat cash as dowry to their parents. They marry a minor, stay in Hyderabad for a brief period and fly back home. “This has been an age-old practice,” Shakeel explains.
In a shocking incident in January 2007, a 60-year old Arab, who was on a wedding vacation to Hyderabad, had married three girls, Sahana, Fatima and Asfiya, at a single sitting. All, within 10 minutes.
Similarly in May 2004, one Muhammad Zafer Yaqub Hassan al-Jorani hailing from Sharjah came to Hyderabad on the pretext of a cataract operation. Jorani was living with his two wives and 11 children in his Sharjah residence. On May 7, he had married Sabah, a 19-year-old girl, in Hyderabad. Two days later, he divorced her. On May 24, he had married another 16-year-old girl Ruksaar. Following this, Sabah braved to approach the police and got Jorani arrested. Police later learnt that Jorani was living with his two wives and 11 kids at his Sharjah residence.
A person who has been a witness of several such marriages and did not want to be named says, “I have seen such marriages. I even tried to alert the police. In turn, I was threatened.”
Reflecting the same opinion, Shakeel says, “The Human Rights Law Network had faced several such threats in their attempts to thwart child marriages. In one case, we were informed about a child marriage. When we were on our way, we had received threatening calls from local politicians. It was difficult to intervene,” he says, adding that the child marriage was finally stopped with the help of the Mandal Revenue Officer and the RDO.
Contradictory laws perpetrate child marriages