West Bengal Brides In Kashmir, A Case Of Human Trafficking Or Marriage

In May this year, a family and relatives of a minor girl protested in the Noorbagh area of Srinagar, seeking her whereabouts. They alleged she had been kidnapped by their recently-wedded non-local daughter-in-law, who had been with the family for only three days.

The family claimed that the woman, hailing from West Bengal, left the house with their eight-year-old daughter shortly after the marriage.

Following the complaint, Jammu and Kashmir police took action and, after a week's search, located the woman in West Bengal. The police brought back the minor girl to Kashmir. However, the police were unable to bring the bride back, as a court in West Bengal did not grant her remand.

"We located the woman. We brought the minor girl kidnapped by her back. But we couldn't bring the accused woman as the Court in West Bengal didn't give her remand," says a senior police officer. He said this seems like a classic case of trafficking and counter-trafficking. "Apparently, the accused bride might have herself been a victim of trafficking who had now turned into an agent and took the minor girl from Kashmir to West Bengal for trafficking," says an official.

The Noorbagh family says an agent from Pattan brought the bride from West Bengal for their son. They were happy to marry the couple in a simple ceremony.

In north Kashmir’s Pattan area, any resident can lead you to a village where most of the men are married to Bengali brides. While the villagers believe it is the poverty that drove men to marry outside, for these women from thousands of miles away, many of them have been trafficked to Kashmir with the promise of a better life.

Several women that Outlook spoke to said they were shown the dreams of a happy life, a photograph of a handsome man, or a promised job. But in Kashmir, many of these women lead a difficult life again wretched with poverty and an uncertain future.

Maseeha (name changed), 28, was at her village in West Bengal’s Bankura district. It was in 2012 when a man approached them with a match for their daughter who was 14 then. “He showed a picture of a well-dressed man. He said he owns the land and my life would be happy. My parents were happy to get rid of me amid the poverty,” said Maseeha who had four children between the age group of 2-8 years old.

Here, Maseeha says life was no better than what it was in West Bengal. “My husband is a labourer, some days there is so much crisis that it is difficult to have food on table. We live in a temporary shack. There is no home. No land. No wealth just another set of challenges,” she adds.

Another woman who is in her 30s, came to the village as a bride to a farmer 12 years older to her. She says sometimes she faces abuse from her husband but she tolerates it as she has nowhere to go. “This is an alien land for us and we don’t have a family available for emotional support,” she adds. “We were married here with false promises. But then we couldn’t go back because of poverty in our families for whom I was no less than a burden.”

A 2019 report by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences Mumbai says minor Muslim girls, particularly in the age group of 15 to 17 years, are preferred as brides in Jammu and Kashmir. West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and cross-border countries like Myanmar (Rohingya girls) are identified as major source areas for trafficked brides into Jammu and Kashmir.

The report says that the price of a bride ranges from Rs 5,000 to 30,000 in cases where the groom is physically and psychologically fit. However, in marriages with middle-aged, disabled, or former militant grooms, the bride's price can soar up to Rs 1,00,000, with agents charging grooms Rs 40,000 to 60,000 for each wedding.

In April this year, the National Commission for Women (NCW) chairperson Rekha Sharma said human trafficking increased by 15.56 per cent in Jammu and Kashmir last year as compared to 2021-22. Sharma said women are coming from West Bengal for jobs but then they are married forcibly to somebody who sexually abuses them.

In January this year, the government of Jammu and Kashmir designated a nodal officer for anti-human trafficking units in Kashmir. The government has taken a decision after a number of local consultancies started bringing "house help" from the poorer states of India as they are in demand.