(Rishika Iyer, Intern Journalist): A 12-year-old girl from Kenya was forced by her father to get married to a 51-year-old wealthy man. The groom was given four cows as a dowry for the wedding. Even though the girl protested, her male cousins forced this matrimony upon her by beating her.
To escape from staying with the 51-year-old, she eloped with a 35-year-old man. From this man, she was rescued by the child rights campaigner and government official. In Kenya, the legal age for getting married is above 18 years of age.
Joshua Kaputah from the Narok County Peace Association told that there various reasons due to which child marriage has highly prevailed in Kenya. One of the most recent reasons is the shutting down of schools due to coronavirus and extreme poverty. “Some families are too hungry and the prospect of receiving two or three cows is quite tempting,” he said.
Child marriage is also present because of the poor imposition of laws. Little girls are often married off to a wealthy man in exchange for cattle.
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