If you thought that women trafficked out of Bangladesh and the bordering districts of West Bengal find their way only to the sex trade, then think again. Many among such girls from the eastern part of the subcontinent are now being sold off as brides in the women- starved western district of Kutch in Gujarat.

It has been merely ten months since Mumtaz Mogal has been married off to Salim Mogal, a shepherd in Bhadreshwar village.

The 16-year-old girl from Bankura district of West Bengal is already seven months pregnant and trying to cope with the new culture and language.

Like Mumtaz, Masura, Samina, Ruksana and many other Bengali girls like her from the Indo-Bangla border areas are now finding their way here as brides. "Our father was too poor to arrange for our marriage back home," said Ruksana Adam, who claims to be from Bankura district in West Bengal. "It was at that point, a man called Zafar from our area met our father and got me married here," Ruksana added. Married for four years, this woman in her early twenties now has a daughter. Her sister Afsana, who is in her teens too found her way to Kutch a couple of years back and has a son.

"A lot of girls are being brought in here as well as in the Banni region," said Meena Rajgore from the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan. "While they claim to hail from Kolkata, many of them are from Bangladesh too," she added. "In many communities here there is a tradition of early engagement, the ones who do not find a bride early are often forced to stay without a wife till very late. Mostly such people procure wives from Kolkata or Bangladesh," she said, adding that many widower Muslims of the region too procured their second or third wife through agents.

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