Forced Marriage: ‘They Told Me I’d Be Raped’ in UK

In the United Kingdom, forced marriage has been illegal since 2014, under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act. It carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.

Statistics from the Crown Prosecution Service for England and Wales indicate that 30 prosecutions were initiated for the offense last year, resulting in 16 convictions.

But charities, such as Karma Nirvana, which supports women affected by forced marriage in the UK, say the number of reported cases doesn’t reflect the true scale of the problem.

Karma Nirvana, a Derby, England-based non-profit, reported receiving 624 calls to its helpline in 2024.

That figure is nearly three times the 229 calls recorded by the UK Home Office’s Forced Marriage Unit.

The BBC has changed Sara’s name to protect her identity and is withholding the location in the UK where she was taken.

It was Sara’s first time in England. She spoke little English and knew few people in the country.

She remembers her family and friends reassuring her that she would have a “better life.” For a few weeks, her marriage had, in fact, seemed to improve.

“But gradually, the restrictions started: ‘Don’t go out of the house, don’t do this, don’t do that, don’t work, stay at home,’” Sara recalled.

She said she was told she would be raped or killed by British men if she left the marital home.

“They told me that in the UK, I couldn’t go out of the house and that if I went out alone, I would be raped,” she explained. “’Don’t go out alone, not during the day or at night.’”

Overnight, Sara found herself reduced to a state of servitude, despite her resistance.

She recounts that her mother-in-law forced her to do housework and forbade her from going out, describing her as a “maid” and a “servant.”

Her situation worsened when her husband became violent. “Sometimes he would throw things at me, push me. Sometimes he would kick me,” she said.

Sara’s situation became even more unbearable when she realized her husband and family had cut the Wi-Fi on her mobile phone.

Frightened and alone, unable to contact friends and family in Pakistan, she says she mustered the courage to ask her husband why she didn’t have wireless internet.

The consequences were dramatic. She remembers him throwing the remote control and keys at her, hitting her in the face.

“He grabbed me by the neck. He pinned me against the wall. He hit me three or four times in the head,” she said.

Sara felt like she was suffocating and thought she was going to die. She also remembers her mother-in-law, who witnessed the entire scene, blaming her for not being quiet.

“That night, my husband slept near the door so I wouldn’t run away,” she recounted.

Sara remembers the terror she felt after the assault, which she says left her face swollen.

“I don’t know what I did, how I did it, but at six in the morning, after spending the night ruminating and crying, I called the police,” she said.

Five minutes later, Sara heard the police knocking at her door. She remembers one of the officers going upstairs, entering her room, and finding her huddled in a corner.

“When he arrived and saw me, I was trembling all over,” she said. “I was cold, my heart was racing, and my blood pressure had dropped.”

Police escorted her from the home and took her to a refuge in Leeds, northern England. The incident occurred in December 2022. Sara’s husband was arrested, but she says she didn’t want to press charges for fear of her family’s safety in Pakistan. As a result, no charges were filed against him.

Finally, in July of last year, Sara divorced her abusive husband.

She explains that she didn’t want to return to Pakistan because, she says, divorced women are stigmatized there. She also feared being forced into another marriage.

“What happens with the family is that, somehow, they force you to remarry,” she explained.

Today, Sara has indefinite leave to remain in the UK. She is learning English and rebuilding her life in Derbyshire, central England.

Sara encourages anyone experiencing a forced marriage to leave.

“A forced marriage is destroying another person’s life,” she said. “It’s not just the woman’s life that is broken, the man’s too. You have to think about it first, observe and understand.”

Sara is one of many victims of forced marriage living in the UK. Currently, there is no reliable data on the number of people affected.

To address this, the UK Home Office announced the launch of a study to assess the prevalence of forced marriage in the country and tackle violence against women who are abused for allegedly bringing “shame” on their families.

The Home Office is collaborating with a team of professors from the Universities of Nottingham and Birmingham to create a data collection tool to facilitate the study.

“We have recommended to the government that they get up-to-date data,” said Professor Helen McCabe, a political theory specialist at the University of Nottingham.

According to Professor McCabe, this will be the first prevalence study of its kind in England and Wales. It could help determine the number of people affected, establish whether forced marriages are increasing, and identify ways to improve public policy to reduce them.

“If we don’t know the numbers of people affected and don’t have baseline data on the number of people involved, we can’t determine whether the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, or any other entity needs to change its practices,” the professor concluded.

The study is expected to be completed in March.

In a statement, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips said: “This government is putting in place legislative changes and other measures to tackle this devastating form of abuse and set out clear guidance for frontline staff. These offences must be treated with the seriousness they deserve.”

“My message to those committing these offences is simple: we will bring them to justice.”