Wani tradition: 3 arrested for marrying infant to 24-year-old
Kot Shakir police have arrested three men for solemising marriage of a one-year-old child who had earlier been declared wani by a panchayat in a Jhang village.
Those arrested include the groom, 24-year-old Amjad*, groom’s father, Ata Muhammad, and nikahkhwah Allah Ditta*.
Police say they are conducting raids to arrest the child’s father, Fiaz*, and the man who headed the panchayat, Aslam Gujjar*. They have registered a case against the accused under Section 310-A of the Pakistan Penal Code.
According to the FIR registered by the infant’s mother, Tasawur Bibi, the panchayat had been convened in Kot Shakir village of Athara Hazari tehsil 10 days ago to punish Fiaz.
He had been caught by several villagers with Sakina*, a neighbour, at her house.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Ajmal, Farhan and Rai Ajmal said that they had suspected Fiaz of having an illicit relationship with the woman and had been following him for sometime. They said they had arranged the panchayat together with Sakina’s family members so that Fiaz could be punished.
The panchayat chief, Gujjar, a traffic warden in Jhang, ruled that Fiaz could be pardoned if he agreed to give a woman from his family in marriage to a man from Sakina’s family. Fiaz agreed to hand over his infant daughter to Amjad.
Tasawur Bibi told The Tribune that she could not allow anyone to do this injustice to her daughter. She said approached the police after her husband and in-laws refused to listen to her.
She said after the nikah the groom’s family had taken a promissory note worth Rs300,000 from them when she had refused to hand over her one-year-old daughter. “They insisted that we send the child with them. How can give them my one-year-old daughter? She is too young to be kept away from her mother,” she said.
Station house officer Ismatullah Chaudhary said police were conducting raids for the infant’s father and the panchayat chief. He said if they found evidence they would register a case against Fiaz and Sakina on charges of adultery.
*Names have been changed to protect identities
Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2011.
COMMENTS (20)
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This goes against anyone's conscience surely,whatever religion? This is paedophilia pure and simple
@Humanity:
I will.
1) Such things never had an iota of religious sanction/background 2) Perpetrators were crushed by appropriately formulated and strictly enforced laws.
Dont take my word for it do your own research.
@Yuri Kondratyuk: You seem to be a sage.
Any clue about the rampant wife/daughter-in-law burnt alive by their saris catching fire mysteriously? Please enlighten the ET readers.
If Muhammad is the perfect man and all his actions were Allah's will ,are your laws and customs not in violation of Islam and Sharia?
By Muhammad's example,Wouldn't the legal age of marriage be 6?
It seems muslims constantly break their own laws,distort the quran and re-interpet religious writings in each village,city,state,mosque,sect and by each imams personal choice. You either follow Allah and Muhammad's teachings and examples or you are a sinner.How can you rewrite Allah's sacred book because a few men disagree? If Allah wanted it changed would he not do so? Wearing a veil or praying a million times or not eating pork does not make you a good or faithfu muslim..
What about the female giving her consent? If there's no consent then it is a forced marriage.
@Jock in a Frock: I just quoted the Islamic law. Don't shoot the messenger.
@trueman: "“9 years is so much better. Girls can be expected to be fully mature mentally and physiologically by that age.” Are you kidding? You must be totally insane to make that comment. Wonder why there such silence in this topic !! This is clear case of paedohilia"
I think you missed the heavy sarcasm and even the "/s" tag for sarcasm. Of course I do not endorse pedophilia. I am very much against it and other barbaric traditions of ancient times.
UN-BELIEV-ABLE!!!!! You who have said this would be ok at 6 and 9 are absolute MONSTERS!!!! Do you have no humanity??? Are you barbaric animals????
I am flabbergasted by muslims blind faith. For those that claim a 6 or 9 year old girl has the mental capacity of deciding adult matters such as marriage, you need to go to an elementary school to see for yourselves how wrong you are. Oh I forgot, you don't expect female children to attend school. Islamic backwardness will lead to your destruction.
@M Ali Khan....Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is undisputed role model for all Muslims to follow. His act is sunnat and timeless. You can not set a wrong precedent in 21st century.
@Yuri Kondratyuk... thanks for bringing up correct point. Totally agree.
Convention is to protect the identities of alleged victims and not of alleged perpetrators!
I used to hear cases of six year olds, but a one year old? LOL. Breaking all records, Pakistan zindabaad
@Mj: "9 years is so much better. Girls can be expected to be fully mature mentally and physiologically by that age."
Are you kidding? You must be totally insane to make that comment. Wonder why there such silence in this topic !!
This is clear case of paedohilia
Yuri: Who permits to "give" a daughter away in marriage at 6 or even allow for marriage to be consummated at 9 years of age? Girls are not a commodity to be given away! Marriage is an agreement where both genders enter with mutual consent & before maturity (which one acquires through age or experience & which is definitely present at age 6 or 9) it is not possible to make such huge decisions. In addition to Nero's and Mj's comments, I have to say that you should really educate yourself on the medical complications as a result of child marriages. Also, people should just stop quoting shariah for everything before having an in-depth knowledge on that subject! Allah has given us common sense and a few pounds worth or brain to utilize...USE IT!!!
@Yuri Kondratyuk: "One’s daughter cannot be given away in marriage unless she is above 6 years of age and the marriage cannot be consummated unless the bride has attained 9 years of age."
7th Century Arab examples of pedophilia is not relevant in 21st Century today. You wanna marry someone? Be at least 18 years old!
@Yuri Kondratyuk: Would marrying off a child be in the light of Sharia? Did the parliament decide to impose Sharia? When? Can Sharia rules be questioned?
@Yuri Kondratyuk: 9 years is so much better. Girls can be expected to be fully mature mentally and physiologically by that age. /s
Kudos to the mom for having the courage to stop this barbarity from taking place.
@Yuri : Marrying a 6 year old girl and consummating it at age 9 is pure paedohilia, no matter who does it.