A CHARITY that opposes forced marriage has been contacted 62 times in two years by people in our region living in fear of their families.

Karma Nirvana works with those too scared to confront their relatives and helps victims escape the clutches of a partnership they do not want.

Since June 2014 it has been a crime to use emotional or physical abuse to tell someone to get married.

In York, 23 people contacted the Leeds-based group in 2014 and 2015 as those unwilling to be bullied by relatives spoke out.

There were another 39 calls from across North Yorkshire, including in Malton, Scarborough and Selby.

The crime is punishable by up to seven years in prison and is characterised by physical, financial, psychological and sexual pressure.

Priya Manota has been Karma Nirvana's Helpline manager for the past five years and has spoken to hundreds of men, women and children concerned about forced marriage and honour-based abuse.

She said: "When it became a crime in 2014 it showed people this is not culturally sensitive and you are not going to be labelled racist if you help someone, because this is a form of abuse.

"It might not mean we have more victims but we are certainly reaching more people.

"In 2014 we had 8,779 calls to the helpline and when we first began it was in the 2,500 range.

"We can support men and women or a young child that's 16 and forced into a marriage. We might speak to teachers who are concerned for a pupil."

The charity works with police and health groups to remove people from a marriage, but this can often be a long process.

"A lot of people who talk to us don't immediately want to leave," Ms Manota added.

"We sometimes get the police involved and they can be taken to a place of safety, like a women's refuge."

Another charity, Freedom, claimed last week Muslim girls as young as 11 are being forced to marry men over Skype, often with the promise of a UK visa.

The Forced Marriage Unit - a joint Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Home Office unit - gave advice to 1,267 cases between January to June 2014 and 8.9 per cent of these were in Yorkshire.

North Yorkshire Police investigates allegations through its Protecting Vulnerable Persons Unit and claimed back in 2014 that honour based violence was "widely under-reported".

Speaking in 2014, detective superintendent Heather Pearson, the former head of the unit, feared people were suffering in silence and were reluctant to come forward after only 26 victims made reports to officers in 2013.

She said: "We know that victims are reluctant to come forward to the police.

"This is borne out through the number of calls to dedicated help lines about honour based violence compared with those who report to the police."

A spokeswoman added: "Forced marriage forms part of our domestic violence profile and policy. Our domestic abuse coordinators work alongside Karma Nirvana and also IDAS and Bridge House SARC to provide the support that victims made need.

"We also work alongside partnering forces in West and South Yorkshire on early identification and assessment of risk as a preventative measure."

 

York Press:

A SENIOR figure at York Mosque believes some people living in this country may not know forced marriage is a crime, such is its deep-rooted nature in cultures that have existed for generations.

Imam Abid Salik conducts marriage ceremonies and weekly services to hundreds of Muslims, and says he does everything in his power to stop a forced marriage taking place.

However, he admits there is little he can do to influence a scared bride or groom who fears her family more than senior figures inside a Mosque.

He said: "People might not know it's wrong and think it's fine because they have done it all their lives and it just gets passed on.

"If someone comes to me this is something I always clarify.

"I went to one wedding where there was a lot of people around the bride or the groom. If you see that happening you need to tell everyone to step back and make sure everyone is away and she is alone and there is no influence and nobody is giving her the evil stares.

"If we feel like there is anything malicious or hidden I will probe and ask the question because not only is it illegal in this country, it is illegal from an Islamic point of view.

Although Imam Salik has never seen or heard of a forced marriage taking place in York, he is aware of stories where families have agreed to a marriage as soon as their children are born.

"This is a cultural thing and not something that is necessarily linked to religion," he added.

"It is a cultural thing and I know of people from certain areas of Pakistan or other places where people feel betrothed to each other and parents who know each other will say once my child is born and once their child is born, these two will marry each other and will make an agreement.

"Islamically speaking this is wrong, it is impermissible, but culturally it is probably accepted.

"People who are born in Pakistan or whose parents are born in India or the sub-continent mainly, once they come to this country and grow up here and fuse the two customs together, that's when eyes can be opened to the fact it is wrong.

"Whereas if you are in a community or society where everyone is doing one thing, even though it is wrong, if it is socially accepted people can sometime turn a blind eye to it.

"So with forced marriage branded illegal in this country it can only be a good thing. It is being taken seriously and hopefully that is a deterrent for people who are going ahead with forced marriages, knowing it is morally wrong, knowing it is Islamically wrong if they are Muslims and knowing it is illegal. All of them coming together gives it strength."

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A VICTIM'S STORY

The following is a case study based on the experience of a woman who was forced into a marriage with her cousin.

A BRITISH Pakistani female who had been divorced due to being in an abusive marriage called Karma Nirvana for help.

She revealed her family was forcing her to marry a cousin in Pakistan and told her that because she had been divorced once it would be unlikely anybody would want to marry her again.

She told the charity how she went ahead with the marriage only to find out later that her husband had married her for a visa.

The couple went on to have two daughters and after some miscarriages her husband forced her to go through IVF treatment so she could conceive a boy.

When she fell pregnant her husband said that if he found out his wife was having a girl she would have to get an abortion. 

The victim explained that her in-laws and her husband were already very emotionally abusive towards her two daughters and did not play a part in their lives, but the caller did everything for her daughters.

She was extremely anxious going for the scan, however, it revealed that she was pregnant with a boy. 

Despite the positive scan the trouble continued and their new child was also subjected to evil abuse. 

The female finally left the marriage after she contacted police and social services became involved. 

The mum and her children are today living in safety with the help of authorities.