The British government on Thursday expressed serious concern over the growing incidence of forced marriages involving young people with origins in the Indian sub-continent.
In the latest case, as many as 23 girls are missing from schools in Bradford despite considerable efforts to track them down, authorities say.
The Foreign Office has set up a dedicated unit to help young victims, who are lured by family members to travel to the sub-continent and then forced into marriages there.
The unit mounts several 'rescue operations' in the Indian sub-continent to help British Asian victims.
Official sources told PTI that over 500 cases of forced marriages are reported every year, but the unofficial
figure was likely to be much higher.
Indian-origin Member of Parliament Keith Vaz on Thursday said authorities in Bradford suspected 23 children from the city had been "taken abroad to participate in forced marriages". Bradford has a large minority population of Pakistan origin.
Children's Minister Kevin Brennan told the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee that the issue was a serious concern. Vaz said he was shocked by the latest figures.
The government had identified 14 other areas with suspected high rates of so-called 'honour violence', he added.
Brennan told MPs that the Bradford City Council had lost track of 205 youngsters, all of them under 16 years of age, from its school rolls in 2007.
