Photo Courtesy: children.foreignpolicyblogs.com
It was not shocking news. It happens in some parts of the world. But, a verdict by a court in Saudi Arabia was shocking. The court turned down a plea to divorce an 8 yea-old girl married off by her father to a man, who is 58. The court argued that the case should wait until the girl reaches puberty. In August, the girl's divorced mother filed the divorce plea with a court at Unayzah, near Riyadh. Lawyer Abdullar Jtili pointed out that the judge rejected the plea saying that the girl did not have the right to file such a case. The father had agreed to marry off his daughter for an advance dowry of GBP 5,000 due to certain financial problems.
40 comments:
and this is just a child...
Crazy ! I only hope that she will become so ugly that the old guy doesn't want her anymore ! That's worse than the middle age !
Some things in this world makes me furious. How can a father sell his child lie that? Because that's what this is about not marriage and so on, it's about him wanting money and deciding to sell his daughter to get them. Shame on him and shame on the court.
Being a parent myself, it's hard to fathom how somebody could sell their child or cause them mental and emotional damage like that. This practice needs to stop. Poor girl.
Hi there, really nice blog and write-ups.
It should be shocking and down right wrong. I'm saddened by this story and the many like it.
We can know it for the sake of knowing...
it will continue to happen...Muslim personal law is so fashioned...
Civil law of the Muslim states are yet to be freed from religion-based personal laws as we see in India...
thank you for the post, Deepak
wishes,
devika
Shocking..i must say not...it is happening everywhere across the globe...India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and lots of countries of African continent..in this case we are concentrating over the age of girl..i agree that she is still far from going thru the trauma of a married life..she sud get justice like all of us wud argue..but my dera friends who will accpet this girl..she is illiterate...her father will not accept her..whr will she go..may be to abrothel..or die on road..i cant find a way out for her..am feeling helpless...May GOD help that little soul..thats only I can say and wish...
Money is the root of all evil - The case stands before you.
Shocking things happens every place. Too sad :(
No matter what the religion is, an 8 yo. girl is a child in every corner of the globe!
Oh my goodness. This is awful. So does this dear child now have to live with the 58 year old?
Dear Deepak
Wishing you a very happy and prosperous new year!
May the coming year bring to you, the best yet!
Warm Regards
Rakesh
Sad that such things have to happen!
Thank u, thanks thanks thanks…
A very happy New Year to you too !
!!!! WISH YOU AND YOURS A SUPER 2009 !!!!
challenging year gone by, happy year has just opened its door. best wishes..
This is shocking indeed. Shame on the father.
All my good wishes for 2009..
Oh dear, the poor girl. One would think that these things don't happen these days, but they do.
Ahh.... It is sad... such things still happen in today's world..!
Hope the world becomes a better place to live in..!
BTW, thanks for your best wishes on my NGO :)
Wish you a happy and prosperous new year!
Cheers,
Netra
shocking..indeed..but we india dont have to look that far as Saudi Arabia to know of such incidences...while reading this sad story of this girl....the picture of a girl in andhra( which appeared last yr in an indian daily) flashed in my mind....she was washing an utensil...eight yrs old..married off to someone old so that other siblings are well taken care of...what was really shocking was the girl while in the act of rubbing the utensil looks up to the camera..and the shot was taken at that moment....the look was vacant yet there was a look of courage in that little girl....
poverty indeed is cruel thing...it can make people do things what one may have not even imagined they would....
on a brighter note...wish u a very happy and prosperous..2009
devika has actually hit the bull's eye..remeber the case of imrana in UP....civil law has to be freed of religion based laws ..but even talking of such thing is like opening pandora's box..
o my god, are they Crazy???
i can't believe
Is this what they call travesty of justice? Shocking.
It just gets crazier by the day!
Happy new year dude!
good one
Another legal kind of human trafficing. So sad.
I recently met an amazing young woman who is a director of a shelter for abused women in the affluent Orange County, CA. She told some horrible stories of young girls brought from Mexico and being mistreated.
Glad you brought this to our attention. Did you read "Bookseller of Kabul"? (I heard it on CD. Really insightfull.)
Tash, I will promise you I will read that book.
This is fantastic capture of a reality and a protrait. A sad story to see
Unfortunately these things are the customs of the land and will never change. You have some very interesting articles here. Thanks for sharing and visiting my blog.
that's actually insane!!
So, she is old enough to get married but too young to get divorced.
Turns my stomach. Keep doing great work. These photo blogs don't have to be all pretty pictures, thank God.
It's poverty that drives one marry off their young kids , I think there's a lot of stories like this happening in India too,isn't it? it's so sad when kids loose their childhood overnight.
disgusting
You know I've seen a lot of this kind of stuff in Africa... In a couple of cases I walked away and cried, feeling helpless in the face of such situations, these girls having kids on their hands while they are still kids themselves. Jama is right, poverty is among the main causes of this. But it's one thing if this happens in a remote traditional community, where the introduction of education could slowly change the mindsets; but another when it's backed on the government level - the latter is ideological and so much more outrageous in my opinion.
This is ridiculous!
Selling a girl out of financial problems. If he coudn't afford a child he must have afforded a condom, instead of playing a part in the birth of a child who will be sold in future to grab some pretty pennies...!
I can't believe it. I have no words for this...
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