Growing numbers of men who come from Pakistan to marry women in Bradford are being subjected to physical and emotional abuse, a lawyer claimed today.

Asama Javed, a top family law solicitor, said she was dealing with 200 cases of domestic violence and at least 20 per cent of cases involved a man suffering physical abuse at the hands of his wife or wife's family.

Now she is calling for a special support group to be set up to help the battered men, many of them who come to this country with no language skills or knowledge of the laws.

She has already helped one male victim of domestic violence stay in the country after his marriage failed.

She said: "I used to be known as the devil woman because of all the work I did for women but then slowly it changed and now men are coming to me.

"Men have been referred to me by other agencies such as the police. There is supporting evidence of their abuse and often the men need long-term counselling.

"And it is something that is very much taboo. For these men to even admit they have been hit by their wives is harrowing, never mind having to seek help from the police or a woman solicitor.

"The men come from parts of the world that are very patriarchal where they would be too ashamed to admit that something like this was happening to them."

She said one man came to her with iron marks on his arms.

"He said he had been held down by his wife while his mother-in-law burned him with an iron, supposedly to show him who is boss."

Other men claim to have been hit, beaten and had objects thrown at them.

"They don't know what rights they have and often feel very isolated. One man who came to me said his wife would start screaming and tearing at her own hair to make it look as if she was being attacked."

But the men cannot go back to Pakistan. "It sounds simple to say that if they are suffering why don't they just get out. They might have economic reasons for wanting to stay in this country.

"Sometimes they might genuinely love their wife and want to make a go of the marriage."

Immigration law states that a victim of domestic violence has the right to stay in the country even though the marriage has failed.

Miss Javed has written to MPs to ask for their support in backing the helpline.

Bradford West MP Marsha Singh backed the plan and said he had had complaints from men but did not realise the problem was so bad.

He said: "I didn't realise the situation was as severe as this. Clearly I would

back any move that protects people of ill-treatment."