At the age of 14, she is a mother

On her wedding day, Krishna was just 11 and her husband Gopal Kishan, 13. Today, at the age of 14, she’s mother of a four months old boy. Krishna nearly died in childbirth and had to be hospitalized for days following the delivery. Gopal describes his wife's recovery as "nothing less than a miracle." Gopal, who wanted to have a child and risk his young wife’s life “because of boredom”, now regularly comes home drunk as he hasn’t got any work, as the soybean fields which his family owns are not that fertile now. Although the legal age for marriage in India is 18, the law remains a farce as 40% of the world's child marriages occur in India. Although the UN has been working hand in hand with the government of India to raise awareness, strengthen law enforcement and invest in the education of girls, many of our leaders still consider child marriage as a solution to protect girls from sexual atrocities like rape. These heartbreaking photos throw light on the social evil of child marriage through the life of Krishna and her husband.

On her wedding day, Krishna was just 11 and her husband Gopal Kishnan 13, Today at the age of 14 she is the mother of 4 months old boy. Krishna nearly died in childbirth and had to be hospitalized...

See complete slideshow on Yahoo :

http://in.news.yahoo.com/photos/teen-bride-s-first-child-slideshow/

Baha'i prayer in kannada - Blessed is the spot

Anger online as Saudi in his 90s marries 15-year-old

The case of a Saudi man in his 90s who has married a girl of 15 has drawn widespread criticism on Twitter and other social media in the country.

Some Saudis have been asking whether the case amounts to trafficking or child abuse.

Local media reports say the man paid a dowry of $17,000 (£10,500) in order to get married to the girl.

A series of similar cases in recent years has drawn attention to the issue of child marriage in the kingdom.

The girl in the latest case was so frightened that on the wedding night she locked her husband outside the bedroom and eventually escaped back to her parents, local media reports say.

The husband is reported to be considering legal action to get either her or his dowry back.

The case reflects how online social networks have become a vital forum for public discussion in what has long been an opaque, even closed society, with Saudis now taking to Twitter faster than anywhere else in the world, the BBC's Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher reports.

Thousands of girls under 14 are reported to have been married off to richer, much older men, he adds.

There appears to be widespread support in Saudi society for a minimum age for marriage, which the authorities say they are working towards.

However, some of the most conservative religious scholars are still resisting the idea, while insisting that girls must have reached puberty before marriage.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20936800

2-year-old girl, 4 other minors raped in India

Indian attendants carry Rajesh Gangwal, a protester on hunger strike, to the ambulance after his health was critical from not eating the last thirteen days during a protest against a gang rape at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on January 6, 2013

Five girls aged between 2 and 10 have been raped in two separate incidents in India, four of whom were assaulted by the same attacker. The attacks are only the latest in a string of brutal sexual assault cases that have recently outraged the country.

Both of the incidents took place in the populous eastern Indian state of West Bengal.

A two-year-old girl was allegedly raped by an 18-year-old male in Minapara village near the city of Raigani on Saturday, India's DNA news cites police as saying.

The baby's father told police the incident occurred when his wife went to wash clothes in a pond on Saturday, leaving the sleeping infant unattended.

The teenage assailant was arrested and is being held on 14-day judicial custody.

Four more girls, aged between five and ten, were reportedly raped by a 40-year old man in the town of Belatore on Thursday.

The girls had reportedly gone to a grocery shop owned by the alleged assailant Rabi Lochan Dey to buy a cake.

Dey reportedly lured the girls into a back room, where the attack is said to have taken place.

The assault became known to authorities when one of the victims was taken to hospital after passing blood through her urine, police said. Dey was subsequently arrested on Saturday night.

"We have arrested the man who is being accused of this horrific crime. A first-investigation-report (FIR) has been filed by the girls' parents, we have sent the victims to Bankura Sammilani Medical College Hospital for medical tests and the results are awaited," Gulf News cites the district police superintendent as saying.

Protesters who gathered outside Dey's shop on Sunday to decry the attack were soon dispersed by police.

Saturday's attacks are only the latest in a series of highly publicized sexual assault cases following the brutal gang rape and subsequent death of a 23-year old student in New Delhi in December.

The violence sparked mass protests throughout the country, with people, particularly women, demanding punishment for those responsible, as well as new laws to protect Indian women.

Despite attempts by the government to assuage public anger, the country has a poor record of prosecuting sexual assault cases.

India's National Crime Records Bureau reports that only 15 percent of the country's 95,000 pending rape cases made it to trial in 2011.

http://www.sott.net/article/255769-2-year-old-girl-4-other-minors-raped-in-India

Baha'is pray for Delhi gang-rape victim

Inter-faith prayers for Delhi gang-rape victim

New Delhi, Jan 1 — An inter-faith prayer meeting was held at Gandhi Smriti in the capital Tuesday for the Delhi gang-rape victim who died Dec 29.

People from all faiths -- Zoroastrian, Bahai, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhism and Jainism -- recited prayers.

Around 200 people, including Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, wife of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Gursharan Kaur, and Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath attended the prayers organised by Women's Initiative for Peace in South Asia (WIPSA).

IANS

Read more: http://india.nydailynews.com/politicsarticle/00e7404214f6cb2c2067f7bbf8563f4c/inter-faith-prayers-for-delhi-gang-rape-victim#ixzz2GpSK91Fv