Hatiya Island in Noakhali District, bordering Meghna and Bay of Bengal. Its location is 17 kilometres south of the main land of the country. The only means of communication is the river. The ward number 3 of Hatiya Upazila is Shunya Char. Life and livelihood is around the river here. In May this year, the low-lying areas were inundated with tidal water due to Cyclone Yash. And precisely because of poverty and lack of family awareness, almost eighty percent of girls studying in the fourth and fifth classes are victims of child marriage.
A victim of child marriage, Ismot Ara said that she got married on 25th January 2020. And her baby is four months and 25 days old now. In every family there will be a teenage mother.
Another victim of child marriage a teenage mother, Aklima Begum explained her condition as she has been married for 11 years. This resident of alluvial land has 5 children. She is very weak and has kidney problems. She has been suffering from high fever, body ache for six to seven days. Due to lack of money, she cannot take medicine properly. Getting rice for food is very difficult for her. It’s hard to feed everyone. But she didn’t lose for lack of money.
Doctors said that mothers and children suffer from various health complications while giving birth to multiple children at a young age. In this regard, Dr. Khadija Rahman, Consultant, Paediatric of Upazila Health Complex of Hatiya said that Child marriage is rampant in Hatiya. There is less gap between two children in taking of children and there is a huge increase in having more children at a young age. Because of this, it poses a huge risk to the health of the mother. Having children at a young age breaks down the mother’s body at the same time. The baby in the womb can’t grow properly at the right time. During the delivery, the mother has a lot of problems like the baby is not delivered easily. There is excessive bleeding during delivery and after the delivery. More babies die, the complications of the mother are also increasing, he added.
At the age of going to school, these girls have to take the responsibility of the family. Immature age and handling multiple children creates turmoil in many families. The local representative informed about various measures to stop child marriage. From the side of the local government, the Chairman of Burirchar Union of Hatiya sub-district, MD. Fakrul Islam said that he has been working for two years so that child marriage should not happen. It is a social disease of that area. The main reason for the bad situation girls are going through is child marriage. They are taking various awareness measures. Programs in schools, colleges and madrasas are being done. They are also creating the public awareness message so that there is no more child marriage.
According to the police, after receiving information about child marriage in the village, they make operation in there to stop it. Bit policing operations are underway. But police are also unable to stop child marriage here, said a police officer without expressing his name.
By G M Mourtoza, [email protected]
Head of News and Multimedia, Radio Padma 99.2FM and PadmaNews24.Com
