Underage girl challenges jirga’s decision in court

The jirga had given 14-year-old Saima’s hand in marriage for honour

HYDERABAD: An underage girl filed a petition on Monday in the Sindh High Court pleading against the decision of a jirga in Tando Allahyar district that gave her in marriage in an alleged matter of honour.

The marriage was to be a penalty for Saima Rind, who claimed to be 14 years old, because her brother allegedly used to talk over the phone to a woman from the to-be-groom's family.



Saima's counsel, Advocate Nazeer Laghari, informed the court that the jirga, held in Chambarh area, held her brother Ghulam Shabir Rind guilty of talking to a woman over the phone. As a punishment the jirga had ordered the Rind family to give their daughter in wedding to Barkat Ali, Laghari added.

Saima appealed to the court to give her protection and to order the police to take action against the influential people who organised the jirga.



The court's Hyderabad Circuit Bench ordered the Tando Allahyar police to provide protection to the girl and her family and to produce the men who held the jirga in court on September 19.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2016.