London, Jan 7: A 90-year-old Saudi Arabian is suing his 15-year-old child-bride's family because she hid herself in the bedroom on their wedding night.
The terrified teen locked the door from the inside so that her new husband could not enter on their first night as a married couple. Two days later she fled back to her parents' home, Daily Mail reported.
The elderly man now wants his money back as he claims he paid the parents 10,767 pounds (about $17,500- 65,000 Saudi riyal) for the teenager for the marriage.
According to Al Arabiya TV channel, the man said he paid the dowry to the young girl's Saudi mother and Yemeni father, making the marriage “legal and correct”.
The old groom said on the first night of wedding, she entered the bedroom before him, and locked he door from inside, so he could not enter. This, he said, made him “suspicious about some kind of conspiracy” on the part of the girl and her mother.
The 15-year-old's arranged marriage sparked outrage and widespread condemnation in Saudi Arabia where activists took to Twitter calling it child trafficking and prostitution.
The man vowed to sue his in-laws to give him back he bride or return him the expensive dowry.
Close friends of the bride's family said, she was frightened on the wedding night, and locked herself inside the room for two successive days before fleeing back to her parents' home.
A member of the Saudi National Association for Human Rights (NSHR), Suhaila Zein el-Abedin urged authorities to “save this child from tragedy”, adding that marriage in Islam must be based on mutual consent.
She also blamed the girls parents for accepting the dowry and marrying off their daughter to such an old man, underlining the importance of establishing a minimum age of 18 for marriage in Saudi Arabia.
The 15-year-old's arranged marriage sparked outrage and widespread condenation in Saudi Arabia where activists took to Twitter calling it child trafficking and prostitution.
