8-Year-Old Girl Divorces Husband After Four Years Of Marriage

An Indian girl of eight is believed to have become the world's youngest person to ever be divorced after leaving her 14-year-old husband.

Fatima Mangre was married off at the age of four by her father Anil in Nakhi village, in the Shravasti district of India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh in an arranged marriage with 10-year-old Arjun Bakridi but the marriage was annulled four years later when the boy came to collect his bride and her father Anil said he realised it was wrong to force her to marry at such a young age of four.

He asid he wanted to wait till she was 18 before leaving.
He said: 'I finally realised that this practice of marrying off daughters so young was wrong and that she should have a childhood, and that it was my duty to provide that.'
According to report, Arjun's father Dipak was unhappy with the decision, and an argument broke out which resulted in Anil filing for divorce.

The state government of India's has called for an inquiry into the incident. The probe was ordered after the New Delhi-based National Commission for Women (NCW) member Nirmala Samant sent a letter, demanding details of the divorce and threatening action against the parents of the girl and the boy.

She said: "This is a scandal, we need more details before taking action. The girl's father must answer why he married her off at four years old and the boy's father must answer why he agreed to such a marriage and then went to demand the girl when she is barely eight years old," adding that it was insensitive, controversial and objectionable.
However Fatima's father has already written to NCW, saying he should be pardoned because he stopped his daughter from being taken away by her in-laws.
'I have already admitted my mistake. Social pressures are high in our village. But the marriage has been annulled. I have admitted it was wrong to marry her off so early,' he said in a handwritten note.

He added: 'I now want to make things right. I want to give my daughter a good childhood. I will do everything to protect her.'
Meanwhile, the young groom's father Mr Bakridi has gone into hiding following the altercation.