Man pays 10 lakh to marry 10-yr-old girl in Dubai

Dubai, Jul 20: A 64-year-old man, who paid a huge dowry to marry ten-year-old girl in the central Saudi city of Hail, says he will wait five years more to legally wed her. According to local newspapers in Saudi Arabia, the man, who has already paid Rs 10 lakh dowry to the father of the girl and signed the marriage contract, now says he would wait until the girl is 15 to complete the marriage.

The man's son claimed that the girl's father taunted his father saying he was willing to marry his daughter to him if he paid Rs 10 lakh as dowry. ''My father accepted the challenge, paid the money and became the husband of the young woman,'' the son was quoted as saying. Following reports of child marriages in the local media, religious scholars and human rights activists in the Kingdom have demanded legislation to set a statutory minimum age for marriage. According to the Shariah, maturity is associated with puberty, which could start at the age of nine for girls and at the age of 11 for boys, Arab News said.

UNI