There seems to be no end to the agonies of young Malayali girls who are forced to marry men twice their age hailing from outside their state and even outside the country. After the ‘elderly’ grooms from the Gulf, Mysore and Haryana, Maldivian men have been busy shopping for young brides here.

A 16-year-old girl hailing from Vallakkadavu near the international airport here ran away from home on Wednesday refusing to marry 52-year-old Ahammed, a Maldivian national.

The girl was introduced to the bridegroom at the house of the middleman from where she ran away and sought refuge at the Civil Aviation General Workers’ cooperative society.

Following the intervention of the local jama’ath and the police, she agreed to return home. Curiously enough, since no complaint was registered, the police have withdrawn from the scene. Sources say that close to 500 marriages involving Muslim girls in the coastal areas and Maldivian grooms have been registered over the past 10 years.

Cases of exploitation

Though many of them do live happily, there has been several cases of exploitation.

“About 100 marriages have been registered in our area alone in the past decade. Some poor families receive regular remittance from the Maldives but some marriages have ended in tragedy,” says A Saifudheen Haji, president of Vallakkadavu Jama’ath Committee.

“I know instances where the girls found to their dismay on reaching Maldives that they are the third or fourth wife of their husband. Some men marry Kerala girls thinking they will get more intelligent children,” says Mahila Congress president Shanimol Usman.

These girls are dumped once they give birth to children.  Tales of brides being forced to work as bonded labourers have also come out. Ramla, 23, who managed to escape from the land said her family was misled by “marriage brokers”.  “My husband used to torture me and I landed in a hospital with bleeding problems,” says she.

Maldives’ per capita income is about four times higher than that of Kerala.  They come in large numbers here for leisure, treatment or education of their children.

There are at least 5,000 families settled in Thiruvananthapuram. The Maldivian government has even opened a consulate here.