Nepal’s Dalit child brides — in pictures

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  Dana Sunar, 18, who is the last member of the Dalit caste in her class, was taken at 14 and forced to marry an 18-year-old farmer.

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  “I told them I never wanted to get married and I wasn’t going back. I ran away because I wanted to stay in school,” Susmita, now 16, said.

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  Three out of four Dalits marry during their teenagers or earlier, according to a 2012 survey by Plan International, Save the Children and World Vision.

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  Dana’s in-laws made her drop out of school and focus on farming and housework. Now a mother to six-month-old twins, Dana describes her new life as “a daily struggle”.

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  “We never have enough money — sometimes we eat only once a day. I don’t know how I am going to bring up these children,” she said.

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  Experts say the consequences of marrying so young are devastating and laws are ineffective. Susmita, now in ninth grade, said she wanted to see an end to “this terrible custom”.

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  “I told them I never wanted to get married and I wasn’t going back. I ran away because I wanted to stay in school,” Susmita, now 16, said.

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  Although Nepal banned child marriages in 1963, four out of ten girls are married before they turn 18, according to Unicef.

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  “This is our culture. People worry that otherwise our girls will elope or marry into other communities,” said Sumista, who initially did not oppose her daughter’s forced marriage.

Although Nepal banned child marriages in 1963, four out of ten girls are married before they turn 18 — and the numbers are even higher for the country’s impoverished Dalit community. Photos by Prakash Mathema / AFP Photo