Early marriages plague nomad minors

Teenage pregnancies, domestic violence jeopardising lives of gypsy women

LAHORE:

As most adolescents relish the bittersweet frivolity of childhood, ranting about exams and juggling extracurricular activities, teenage girls from the nomad community in Lahore taste the solemnity of adulthood a bit too early.

Despite the Punjab Marriage Restraint Act of 2015, strictly condemning the marriage of minor boys below the age of 18 and girls below the age of 16, a large segment of the nomad community practises child marriages, thereby exposing their daughters to pregnancy complications, nutrient deficiencies, stillbirths, and domestic abuse.

Case in point is that of Rani Bibi Shahdara, who got married at the age of 13, and now lives in her natal home with her two daughters, having left her patrilocal residence four years ago after enduring a daily dose of beating by her jobless, drug addict husband. “I never wanted to get married at such a young age. Just like other teenagers, I too wanted to enjoy my childhood, study and carve my own destiny but my father did not take no for an answer,” she recalled.

Soon after getting married Rani got pregnant but was physically incapable of delivering a healthy child and hence had to suffer a stillbirth. Her younger daughters were born soon after. “Every other day my daughters had to see their mother getting beaten by their father over petty issues. I could not endure such physical abuse any longer so I decided to leave his house for good,” she shared. On a concluding note, Rani revealed her hopes for her daughters’ future by adding, “I will make sure my daughters do not end up the way I did.”

While Rani’s daughters might have brighter prospects for their future, many young girls in the nomad community still risk encountering a fate quite similar to Rani. According to an on-ground survey by The Express Tribune, a significant number of nomad families practise Sharia marriage, where they marry their children, through the local union council, as soon as they show signs of puberty, but register the marriage with the National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) once the girl or boy turns 16 or 18 respectively, in order to evade any legal repercussions. “Most of the nomads do not get their marriages registered with NADRA. They only seek official registration if and when they require a CNIC to avail a government service,” informed Muhammad Iqbal, a secretary at a local union council in Lahore.

The fact that these early marriages are widely carried out against the law indicates the scale of harm that young brides are subjected to, both mentally and physically, as they transition abruptly from childhood into adulthood. As Fatima Tahir, a child’s rights activist noted, “upon meeting a young bride, one can easily tell that she suffers from nutritional deficiencies like anaemia and rickets. She carries a visible pallor and her bone structure is highly underdeveloped.”

She further added, “apart from her physical health, her mental growth is also hampered. How can a young bride study when she has chores to perform and babies to feed?” Chirag Deen, the leader of a nomadic family, however, begs to differ with Tahir since he believes that early marriage does not hamper a child’s academic or vocational aspirations. “Our girls do not sit at home after marriage as most of them continue to sell flowers, toys, and meat,” retorted Deen. Concurrent with Deen’s claims, The Express Tribune spotted a number of young, teenage girls selling meat at the Ravi River Bridge. The only irony being that each girl carried meat with one arm and a bawling child with the other.