Child marriage case: Four men sent to Adiala Jail on judicial remand

Eight-year-old girl was married to a father of nine to settle family dispute


Mudassir Raja February 02, 2016
Eight-year-old girl was married to a father of nine to settle family dispute . PHOTO: AFP

RAWALPINDI:


A magistrate court here on Tuesday sent four men arrested in connection with child marriage and vani to Adiala Jail on judicial remand for 14 days.


Magistrate Wasim Sajjad Arain directed Pirwadhai police to send eight years old victim girl to a women’s shelter after she was married to a grown man.

Bill aiming to ban child marriages shot down

Police had arrested four men including a cleric during a raid at a house in Zia Colony, where the minor girl was forcibly married to a rival of her elder brother to ‘settle’ a dispute. The four accused were identified as the groom Sher Gul, the girl’s brother Jalal Khan, wedding certificate witness Feroz, and cleric Muhammad Khan.

Police produced the four men along with the victim before a magistrate and sought physical remand of the men.

SHO Chaudhry Riaz told The Express Tribune that the court sent four accused to Adaila Jail for 14 days on judicial remand.

He said that another accused, Bilal was still at-large and the police were conducting raids to arrest him.

Of child marriages and medieval mindsets

Riaz said that earlier, Jalal Khan had married the daughter of Gul, a resident of Zia Colony, Pirwadhai. The marriage caused a clash between the two families, the SHO said, adding that the elders of families convened a jirga to settle the issue.

The jirga decided to marry off the eight-year-old sister of Jalal to Gul, who already had nine children.

All the family members gathered at the house of Sher Gul, where cleric Muhammad Khan of Gausia Mosque oversaw the ceremony.

After a tip off from local residents, a police team raided the house on February 1 and arrested four accused.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3rd, 2016.

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