Monday, April 14, 2008

What's New...

about rape or child sexual abuse? It happens often enough, all over the world.

What is new, and heartrending, is that this eight-year-old girl went to court against her father, who had forced her into "marriage" with a thirty-year-old. She had no support from relatives or friends, so she went up to the court by herself and asked for divorce. Where does a child get that kind of courage?

5 comments:

singularlyplural said...

wow...
where did u find this news?

singularlyplural said...

i meant how

Unmana said...

dpac: I found it through a feminist website. And of course the link is up in the post.

Indian Home Maker said...

Unmana This is so, so sad! But at least she can get help!One of my maids, Sangeeta, was married at the age of, she says 'twelve but could have been younger'. She used to run to her mother in law begging her to save her. Her husband was twenty four then. Her husband is an alcoholic, he doesn't have a job, he beats her, he drinks till late at night, then kicks her awake in the middle of the night demanding she heats his dinner, she worries about her daughter's safety when his drinking friends visit their home (a tin shed). He has also attempted to kill her a few times, for things like borrowing money from someone without his permission. Being so much older he fears she might find another man. When she tried to run away from him and came to stay with her mother, he has followed her here. But she agreed that she will educate her children and not try to unburden herself in a hurry, the way her mother did. Ironically, for all the hurry her mother did in marrying off her daughters so young, the most envied one is a widow, whose husband died of AIDS, and without a husband to create unhappiness, she has good health, a good job and his pension (AIDS victims' pension), and a lovely school going daughter.

Unmana said...

Oh, I am so sorry to hear about Sangeeta. I hope she finds the courage to bring up her daughter well. What kind of world do we live in, that women are so routinely treated this way?