• Anita hails from a small village in Orissa. Five years ago, she was brought to Shahganj village in Bhawaal Kheda block of district Shahjahanpur and sold off as a “wife” to Mahender, a Pasi by caste, for Rs 7,500. Five years and two children later, Anita still cannot talk to her husband as she can hardly understand his language. She may have been bought by Mahender, yet the village does not consider her to be his wife

• Meera Devi hails from Bihar. She was bought as a wife for Rs 8,000 by Rajiv, two and a half years ago. So far, she hasn’t been able to conceive and Rajiv’s family feels that they have wasted the money on her

Bride buying is no longer limited to states like Haryana and Punjab, and these cases serve as an eye opener. In Shahjahanpur district, where the urban sex ratio boasts is one of the lowest in the country (678/1,000) and where the biggest tehsil has the lowest sex ratio (535/1,000), the system of bride buying has become rampant in the past five years. Bhawaal Kheda block has several villages where men have “bought” brides from states like West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. The price ranges from anything between Rs 7,000 and Rs 10,000.

Shahganj is one such village that has around 250 families. As many as 60 per cent of the families have “bought” wives from other states. “We have been forced to buy brides from other states because there are hardly any women in our surrounding villages. The number of girls is really low in this region,” says Lalaram, the village pradhan.

... contd.