Banned custom: 12-year-old girl forced into marriage to settle dispute

Victim’s father demands justice, arrest of culprits.

MULTAN: A 12-year-old girl’s fate was decided by a panchayat when it ordered her family to marry her off as vani to settle a kidnapping dispute in Bhakkar on Sunday.

A police official told The Express Tribune that a few months ago, Nadia Bibi, daughter of Muhammad Rustam, was kidnapped by Muhammad Idrees, son of Imam Bakhsh.  “When the matter was taken to the panchayat, it ordered that Idrees’s sister Samina Bibi should be married to Nadia’s brother Abid, 14,” he added.

He said the members of the panchayat implemented their decision and forcibly conducted the Nikkah of Abid and Samina on May 6, 2017 without the consent of the girl’s family.

Meanwhile, girl’s father Allah Ditta registered a complaint at Darya Khan police station under Section 310 of PPC against 12 people, including Rustam, Ghulam Akbar, Ghulam Qasim, Haq Nawaz, Muhammad Zameer and the cleric Mufti Muhammad Azeem.

He demanded that his daughter should be divorced as the Nikkah was held forcibly and against their wishes. He said those responsible should be arrested and awarded punishment.

The police said investigation in the case was underway while teams were dispatched to arrest the culprits.

Earlier in April 2017, a woman sought police help after a panchayat in Jhang district reportedly ordered that her 11-year-old girl be married off to a 14-year-old boy as vani to settle a rape case.

Nusrat Bibi filed a complaint with police stating that her son Imran worked at a factory in Haripur in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where her in-laws accused him of committing rape.

In a bid to resolve the matter, a panchayat was held in Shorkot, Jhang in which 10 people participated.

The panchayat decided to give Nusrat’s 11-year-old daughter as vani to be married off to Nadeem, 14.

According to Nusrat, the marriage was supposed to take place on April 19 but she and her two daughters escaped the house the night before and went to Khanewal to her parents’ house. She added her in-laws had been threatening her and have registered fake FIRS against her accusing her of kidnap and murder to intimidate her.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2017.