Home Office ‘granting forced marriage visas’

THE Home Office is ‘turning a blind eye’ to girls forced into abusive marriages by handing visas to their foreign husbands, charities warned yesterday.

Girls as young as 15 are taken by relatives to the Indian subcontinent where they are auctioned off as brides and then raped by their husbands.

Once pregnant, they are flown home to give birth in the UK. Immigration lawyers then help the husband secure a visa, according to an investigation in The Times.

Charities and activists have accused the Home Office of failing to stop foreign abusers from entering the country over fears of being labelled racist.

Jasvinder Sanghera, a campaigner against forced marriages, said: ‘Even when officials know it’s a forced marriage, they see tradition, culture or religion and they’re reticent to deal with it. They are turning a blind eye.’

Officials dealt with 88 cases last year of young women trying to block visas for men they had to marry in countries including Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. These women are known as ‘reluctant sponsors’.

In almost half of the cases visas were still approved. Experts believe the actual number of victims is far higher because most are too afraid to come forward.

A Home Office spokesman said: ‘If an individual refuses to act as the sponsor for a visa application then... that visa should not be issued.’