Married at 7: The growing problem of child grooms

Dhobi, pictured outside his family home, is 20 now but was married at age 12 and has a three-year-old son.

It’s not just girls who are married off young in the poorer parts of the world. Boys, too, find themselves forced to grow up and support a family even before they become teenagers.

The groom remembers his wedding day only in snapshots, like a dream that comes back in fragments. A band played Hindi songs. He rode in a rented van, his family dancing alongside. Guests dined on rice, dhal and potato fritters known as pakoras, a food for special occasions.