As Holidays Begin, UK Looks Out For Forced Marriages

With summer holidays beginning in Britain this week, officials are redoubling efforts at the border to stop young people being dragged into forced marriages

London, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jul, 2019 ) :With summer holidays beginning in Britain this week, officials are redoubling efforts at the border to stop young people being dragged into forced marriages.

At a Heathrow Airport arrivals gate, an AFP reporter watched as officials from a special task force comprising police, immigration agents and charity workers intercepted a family disembarking a flight from Bangalore, India.

A young woman in the group raised red flags because of bruises on her arm, while a 13-year-old girl appeared especially timid -- both indicators of potential coercion.

After speaking to family members individually, officials were satisfied that the family was travelling to Britain for a funeral and the bruising was due to a traffic accident.

But the officials also learned that the young woman's parents had recently found her a fiance in their home state of Kerala, and that he, too, may travel to Britain.

Trained task force officers took the woman aside to brief her on her rights and to press upon her that forced marriage is illegal in Britain.

"She's (now) aware of consent, and that she can withdraw her consent at any time," Detective Sergeant Kate Bridger of the Metropolitan Police told her team after they questioned 72 of the 250 people on the Air India flight.