Yasmin Reema :
Once polite and free-spirited, Rahela is now a changed person. She is prickly and withdrawn. She is irritable most of the time even with her own small child. In a fit of rage, she snaps at even her in-laws and hurls whatever she finds within her reach. It is now common knowledge that she is most of the time under some paranormal or evil spell. She is often taken to visit witch doctors or dervishes for treatment. But nothing is working on her. During her lucid moments, she visits her parents.
Rahela was married to a “suitable” boy in her neighborhood at an early age. The social and domestic pressure of her new role as a wife weighed heavily on her and, on top of that, she gave birth to a premature, malnourished child. Under the immense pressure of her roles as a mother and a wife, she longed to go back to the carefree days of her unfinished childhood. While the society believes she is under the spell of some genie, psychiatrists have a different name to her condition: manic depression.
Rahela could not recall her age when she got married. But she could tell that she was sent to her in-laws after a year of her marriage and that she started menstruating two years after that. In less than a year, she gave birth to a child who died eight months later. Before another year could pass by, she gave birth to another child who also died soon after birth.
Sattar Mia, a grocer in Barchana of Comilla with tears in his eyes told a reporter that he was to blame for the miseries of his daughter Piyari. He had rushed his 13-year-old daughter to give marriage against her will to his neighbor’s son who had just come back from abroad. Within a year of marriage, she came back home – sad and ill. According to gynecologist Dr. Kamrunnahar, Piyari is bearing the toll of early pregnancy, miscarriage and cervical complications.
The Daily Independent in a recent report says : Abul Hashem, an assistant teacher of Comilla Beltoli High School informed, “When the school remained closed during last Ramadan, a total of 12 girls from classes 8, 9 and 10 were married off. There has not been a sound of protest by local clubs, NGOs and even the chairman of the union in this regard. Our society has a long way to go in terms of raising awareness against the social curse of early marriage. If 12 underage girls from our school were married off, then imagine how many more got married throughout the country.”
According to a study conducted by human rights NGO Esho Baachi, 75 percent of underage girls get married between 15 and 19 in many parts of the country. The study also revealed that 60 percent of them go through childbirth within one year of their marriage. The reasons behind early marriage were identified as poverty, socio-economic insecurity, mindset of parents, considerations of female child as family burden, male chauvinism, a large number of children, superstition, lack of awareness etc. With birth certificates, parents often claim heir daughters are older than their age and convince the kazis to register the marriage. Another reason is that the dowry is often less for younger girls than it is for older ones. One more very common reason for early marriage is an acute sense of insecurity stemming from the possibility of stalking and taunting by neighborhood boys. Law of the land prohibits the marriage of a girl below 18 and a boy below 21. But lack of awareness and education among rural people makes a sham of this law.
Director of National Institute of Mental Health Dr. A H Mohammad Firoz informed that mental illness is more common among females than males in the country and although not proven, it could have some connection with early marriage.’ According to him, between July 2009 and December 2010, out of a total of 4,843 inmates at this mental institution, 1,620 were in age bracket of 10-18 years. Split into genders, 612 were males and 1,008 were females. Amongst the females, 509 were married while that figure for males was 208.
According to a survey conducted by Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) in 2012, Bangladesh ranks at the top in Asia in marriage of female below the age of 20. Early marriage is considered a major impediment to bring population growth under control. Sources from Jatiyo Shishu Advocacy Forum said 50 percent of females in Bangladesh suffer from long-term malnutrition. 57 percent girls aged between 13 and 17 are now shorter than average height. Maximum of these girls are married off at a tender age, and they give birth to malnourished infants. Thus an unbreakable vicious cycle has been continuing for ages. The Bangladesh government’s national nutrition program is, therefore, targeting girls aged between 13 and 19.
The constitutional law against early marriage has failed to play a positive role in eradicating this ill practice from the country. According to law, those punishable for the offence are the guardians concerned, the groom if he is over 21 years of age, the kazi or the cleric who solemnizes the marriage. The penalty for the offence is one year’s non-rigorous imprisonment or a fine of one thousand taka in cash or both.
Early marriage is a national curse for Bangladesh. It is a violation of not only our constitutional law but also the international convention for child rights. It is one of the principle reasons behind the large population .of Bangladesh. It plays a key role behind child deaths and malnutrition among mothers and infants. Early marriage is an issue of great national concern but very little is being done in this regard.
-PID Feature
