KOZHIKODE: For 16-year old Rehna (name changed), marriage was not a choice but a compulsion when her father brought an alliance of a middle-aged businessman a year ago. Financial issues and parental pressure forced her to succumb to the proposal. Over the course of a year, she suffered severe sexual exploitation and physical abuse at the hands of her husband and his family. The case was reported through a volunteer to the Malappuram Childline office. However, the girl retracted the complaint after a few months.
Rehna’s story is perhaps among a million such instances hidden in the nation’s complexities. In the light of the Supreme Court’s verdict on October 11 that sexual intercourse with a minor wife (below 18 years) - with or without her consent - can amount to rape, a scrutiny on child marriage and sexual exploitation post marriage in Kozhikode and Malappuram has revealed that the practices continue to be a reality.
“Cases of child marriages, sexual exploitation and sexual abuse post marriage often happen in the district and a handful get reported at Childline,” said Malappuram Childline counsellor Muhsin Pary.
“Though we take matters of sexual exploitation seriously and try for maximum intervention, if the child herself retracts the complaint, nothing further can be done about it.”
According to Malappuram District Childline coordinator Anwar Karakkadan, 177 cases of child sexual abuse and 73 cases of child marriage were reported in 2016. Of these, nearly three cases involved sexual abuse of the minor wife.
In most cases, although support is provided by organisations, a case is not filed as parents worry that they would eventually land in trouble. The other reasons are lack of support from family members and fear among the girl children. Hence, the matter gets reported mostly through volunteers or social workers.
“Nearly 10 to 15 cases of child marriage were reported in the past one month, of which one was a case of sexual abuse,” he said.
“Most child marriage cases are informed by friends of the child, by relatives or by the child herself. This even includes cases where the marriage has not taken place but is about to happen.”
While in most cases, girls between 15 and 18 years of age are married off, attempts have also been made to marry off a child below 15 years of age. The alliances usually come from middle-aged men or youngsters between 25 and 28. “The first step towards curbing sexual exploitation is providing awareness to the
men,” said Malappuram District Child Protection Officer Sameer Machingal. “They should take a decision they will not marry a minor girl and, if at all that happens, will not abuse her.”
The officers of the District Child Protection Unit, Kozhikode, said six child marriage cases were reported in 2016-17 and seven in 2015-16, of which four were stopped. Similarly, 35 cases of child sexual abuse were reported between January and September 2017 at the Kozhikode Childline. “However, these are not cases of sexual abuse after marriage, and we have not received such complaints so far,” said Kozhikode District Childline coordinator Muhammed Ali.
The Child Protection Officer for the district, Sheeba Mumtaz C K, said this does not mean sexual abuse of a minor wife does not take place.“The verdict given by the Supreme Court will hopefully urge more women to come forward and raise their issues,” Sheeba Mumtaz said.