Jenny Scott meets Nazia, a woman whose life was ruined after being forced to marry

IMAGINE, at the age of just 15, suddenly being uprooted from the friends you know and the world you've grown up in and sent halfway across the world to be married to a man you've never met. Then imagine being raped, beaten and forced to h ave child after child by your new husband. That's what happened to one East Lancashire woman, who's now fighting to help others in similar positions. JENNY SCOTT met her. . .

AS a teenager, Nazia was known by her teachers and friends as a bright, vivacious girl.

She worked hard at school, achieved good grades and dreamed of going to university and travelling the world.

But her hopes were brought to an abrupt halt when, at the age of 15, she was forced by her family into a marriage with a man she'd never met before who was nearly 20 years her senior.

Overnight, her life changed from that of a happy, free-spirited child into that of a bullied wife, subject to beatings, raped by her husband and forced to have child after child whether she wanted them or not.

"I didn't believe my parents when they first told me I was getting married," said Nazia, whose name has been changed for the purposes of this article.

The wedding itself was a sombre occasion, rigorously controlled by her family.

"I didn't know anything about sex," she said. "My parents never discussed the sexual side of things with me and I wasn't ready for that."

At first, Nazia allowed her husband to have sex with her, but later changed her mind. However, he showed little patience with her naivety and forced her to sleep with him.

She moved to her husband's home in Pakistan and, isolated in a town where she had no friends or family, daily life with a man she hardly knew became increasingly horrific.

"I experienced domestic violence from day one," she said. "Sometimes he would hit me just because he came home from work in a bad mood. I was absolutely terrified." Within a few months of marriage Nazia was pregnant with her first child.

"I had three children within four years," she said. "And the violence became worse. When I was pregnant, he used to kick me in the stomach and pull my hair."

For the birth of her children Nazia returned to East Lancashire to live with her family, but they refused to support her in her efforts to leave her husband - even when he followed her to Britain.

Trapped in her unhappy marriage, Nazia began to feel suicidal. However, as her children grew older, they helped her to feel stronger.

Five years ago, after seven years of marriage, she finally called the police. They arrested her husband, but were forced to release him because Nazia was too frightened to press charges.

However, thanks to Nazia's bravery, her husband's attitude had begun to change.

"After I called the police, he would put his fist in my face but he wouldn't actually hit me. He stopped when he saw I wasn't scared any more."

By then, both Nazia and her husband both wanted to abandon their disintegrating marriage, but they were stopped by her family who feared such a move would tarnish their reputation.

However, when her husband finally walked out, two years ago, Nazia refused to allow him back.

Buoyed by her new-found strength and freedom, Nazia is determined to speak out on behalf of other powerless women, whom she says could all too easily be caught in the same trap she was. The issue of forced marriage, she says, comes down to cultural tradition, rather than religion.

"Many women trapped in marriages like mine will not consider the option of divorce because they fear shaming their family name," she said. "That was one of the reasons I took the abuse for so long.

"But the Muslim religion doesn't allow anyone to treat me that way. The Qur'an teaches us to value our bodies and our health. If people followed their religion you wouldn't see any of these issues coming about."

"I just want to go out to other women and say don't take it - forced marriage, domestic violence or any sort of abuse."

Despite having had no control over how many children she had, Nazia says it was they who pulled her through her darkest hours.

Today, the bright and ambitious schoolgirl is a talented, driven woman, keen to kick-start her life and reach out to those who might be suffering similar abuse.