A couple from London has been jailed for forcing their teenage daughter to marry her Bangladeshi cousin.
On Monday, the parents, from Leeds, were jailed for eight years, reports The Independent.
Earlier in May, they were convicted of tricking their 18-year-old daughter to travel to Bangladesh, and threatening her with violence, if she did not marry her cousin.
In 2016, the couple told their children that they were travelling to Bangladesh to visit relatives. However, when they reached their village, the teenager was asked to get married.
When the 18-year-old refused to do so, she was assaulted and her father threatened to slit her throat—as well as “chop her up.”
She told a jury at Leeds Crown Court that her father was trying to get her to agree but she stood her ground because she was disgusted by the idea of marrying her first cousin.
According to the report, the teenager contacted the British High Commission and they collaborated with Bangladeshi authorities to return her safely to the UK.
In May, the parents were found guilty of forced marriage plus using violence, threats, and coercion.
Michael Quinn, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said this teenager was cruelly and deliberately misled by her parents who were determined to take her to Bangladesh for a marriage she did not want.
The couple’s conviction is only the second of its kind since forced marriage was made a criminal offence in 2014.
According to the UK government's Forced Marriage Unit, they provided support in 1,196 cases relating to a possible forced marriage in 2017—but the actual number of such marriages is likely to be far higher due to under-reporting of incidents.
