Indian girl aged EIGHT is world's youngest divorcee after leaving the husband she married when she was FOUR

Fatima Mangre was married off aged just four by her father who then demanded a divorce for his daughter when he realised his mistake.

An Indian girl of eight is believed to have become the world's youngest divorcee after leaving her 14-year-old husband.

Fatima Mangre was married off at the age of four by her father in Nakhi village, in the Shravasti district of India's northern state of Uttar Pradesh. 
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But the marriage was annulled four years later after dad Anil said he realised it was wrong to force her to marry at such a young age.

When the youngster's in-laws came to collect her to live with them and her teenage husband, Anil told them he wanted his daughter to wait until she was 18.

He told local media: "I finally realised that this practice of marrying off daughters so young was wrong and that she should have a childhood, and that it was my duty to provide that."

But the decision sparked a huge row with the boy's father, Dipak Bakridi, which resulted in Fatima's father announcing his daughter would divorce.

The annulment was arranged the following week.

The state government of India's northern Uttar Pradesh state has called for an inquiry into the incident.

Officials ordered a probe after  Nirmala Samant, a member of the New Delhi-based National Commission for Women, sent a letter demanding details of the divorce and threatening action against the parents of the girl and the boy.

Samat said: "This is a scandal, we need more details before taking action.

"The girl's father must answer why he married her off at 4 years old and the boy's father must answer why he agreed to such a marriage and then went to demand the girl when she is barely 8 years old.

"This is insensitive, controversial and objectionable," she said.

Samat added that the NCW's attention had been drawn to an UNICEF report that found growing cases of child marriages in one of India's most populous states.

According to UNICEF, over 32.9 percent of the girls are married against the national average of 22.1 percent below the legally permissible age of 18 in the state.

The Shravasti district accounts for the majority of underage weddings in India, where the female literacy is just 19 per cent.

Fatima's father has already written to NCW, saying he should be pardoned because he stopped his daughter from being taken away by her in-laws.

He wrote: "I have already admitted my mistake. Social pressures are high in our village. But the marriage has been annulled. I have admitted it was wrong to marry her off so early.

"I now want to make things right. I want to give my daughter a good childhood. I will do everything to protect her."

The Bakridi family had no comment to make on the incident.

Culled from: mirror.co.uk