Judge warns forced marriage ‘very serious’ offence

LONDON: A High Court judge has warned people who force others to marry are committing “very serious” criminal offences.

Justice Holman described forced marriage as a “terrible scourge” as he said those convicted of the crime are likely to be given “substantial” sentences. The judge, who is based in the Family Division of the High Court in London, said the “very notion” of a forced marriage is a “brutal contradiction in terms”.

He has spelled out his thoughts in a written ruling centred on a case involving the daughter of Somali couple living in England. The judge, who analysed the case at a recent hearing, said police had raised concern and asked him to make a forced marriage protection order. He said he had concluded evidence did not justify the making of such an order in the girl’s case. But he said society’s approach to outlawing forced marriage should not soften. “Forced marriages, when they occur, are a terrible scourge,” he said. “Indeed, the very notion of a ‘forced marriage’ involves a brutal contradiction in terms. It is fundamental to any civilised notion of marriage that it is entered into freely and voluntarily, and in the exercise of free will. Those who do, or may, force others into marriage commit very serious criminal offences which, when proved, are likely to lead to substantial sentences.”