Unfortunately, child marriages have been common all over the world. In tribes and cities old and new, it is very much an active practice to marry daughters as young as 5 years old to men old enough to be their grandfathers. Cruel as this may be, there hasn’t been much done to prevent such practices. Per reports, the 8-year-old child bride was married to a man that was 5 times her age and too cruel to withhold himself until the girl was old enough to understand what was actually happening to her. Despite having taken her to the medic, she could not be saved and was pronounced dead.
According to the statement, the child, who was only identified as Rewan, has died of internal bleeding on her wedding night after marrying a man five times her age, a social activist and two local residents said, in a case that has caused an outcry in the media and revived debate about child brides. Arva, head of the states House of Folklore and a leading rights campaigner, said the girl was married to a 40-year-old.
“On the wedding night and after interc0urse, she suffered from bleeding and uterine rupture which caused her death,” Arva said. “They took her to a clinic but the medics couldn’t save her life.” Arva said authorities had not taken any action against the girl’s family or her husband. A security official in the provincial town denied any such incident had taken place. He did not want to be identified because he was not authorised to speak to the press.
But two local residents contacted by us confirmed the incident and said tribal chiefs had tried to cover up the incident when the news broke, warning a local journalist against covering the story. Many poor families in Yenem marry off young daughters to save on the costs of bringing up a child and earn extra money from the dowry given to the girl. A United Nation’s report revealed the extent of the country’s poverty, saying that 10.5 million people lacked sufficient food supplies, and 13 million had no access to safe water and basic sanitation. Dear readers, we are republishing this story amid recent reports that child abuse has surged in the United States during the pandemic.
