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Divorce for non-payment of dowry a common phenomenon in Magura



Divorce for non-payment of dowry is a common phenomenon in Magura, especially in rural areas of the district. Illiteracy, early marriage, marriage without registration and superstition are other major causes of increasing trend of divorce. In most cases women here usually get married with pledges of payment of dowry. In case of failure it causes an adverse effect to conjugal life which results in divorce of women.

"Not only dowry, marriage without registration and early marriage are other causes behind increasing trend of divorce", Khan Mazharul Huq a Sociology teacher in a Magura college said to The Daily Star. About 30 per cent of marriages are solemnised here without registration, he added.

'About two years back I became a leprosy patient and my husband deserted me in fear of being attacked by the disease", Rabeya Begum, a divorcee of village Ichchakhada in Sadar upazila said to The Daily Star.

Ayesha Akhter of village Niznanduali in Sadar upazila said, "As my father failed to pay dowry as demanded by my husband, I was divorced and turned out from the house of my in-laws". Most divorcees are compelled to go back to their father's house where subsequently they are considered to be burden of the families.

Government and non-gove-rnment organisations should come forward to wipe out the curse of dowry and other social ills once for all.

(Source: The Daily Star, Hossain Seraj, Magura, February 17, 2003)

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