British couple convicted of trying to
force daughter to marry in Bangladesh
Thomson Reuters Foundation Reuters
P
A couple who duped their daughter into
travelling to Bangladesh to marry her cousin
and threatened to "chop her up" when she
refused were found guilty of forced marriage
on Tuesday, the second conviction in Britain
within a week.
Campaigners said they hoped the convictions,
among the first under a law introduced in
2014, would send a "strong message" to deter
families from forcing their children to marry
and encourage more victims to seek help.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said the
British teenager, who cannot be named for
legal reasons, thought she was going to
Bangladesh in 2016 with her family for a
holiday.
She ended up in a remote village where she
was told she would be married. When she
refused, her father threatened to slit her
throat and "chop her up" in 18 seconds - one
for every year of her life - the CPS said.
With the help of her younger sisters, the
woman was able to contact her boyfriend in
Britain, who then alerted police.
She was rescued within days and the marriage
did not go ahead.
"This victim was cruelly and deliberately
misled by her parents, who were determined
to take her to Bangladesh for a marriage she
did not want," said Michael Quinn, a senior
prosecutor.
Britain banned forced marriage in 2014. The
maximum penalty is seven years.
The government's Forced Marriage Unit
received reports of nearly 2,000 possible
cases last year, many involving girls from
South Asian backgrounds. But campaigners
say the figure is just the tip of the iceberg.
Last week, a mother who tricked her 13-year-
old daughter into travelling to Pakistan to
marry an older man was jailed for four and a
half years, becoming the first person in
England to be convicted of forced marriage.
"It is positive to see a second forced marriage
conviction so soon after the first successful
conviction of this type in the UK," said Diana
Nammi, director of the Iranian and Kurdish
Women's Rights Organisation (IKWRO), which
supports victims of forced marriage.
IKWRO said there were more than 3,500
reports of forced marriages made to police
between 2014 and 2016.
Karma Nirvana, another support group, said it
hoped there would be more convictions given
that many victims of forced marriage were
children.
"What I'm hoping is that it will give confidence
to the prosecution and to the police to pursue
these cases so we can continue this strong
message," said Natasha Rattu, a lawyer at
Karma Nirvana.
Rattu said she hopes the convictions will also
encourage victims to speak out.
"It sends a message out to victims of this
abuse that if you go to seek help, help will be
available," she said.
The couple will be sentenced on June 18.
by: bdnews24