Court orders inclusion of child marriage clause

A local court ordered on Wednesday that legal proceedings against Ali Azhar, who is accused of kidnapping and forcibly marrying teenage Christian girl Arzoo, were now to be carried out under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013.

Accepting the challan submitted by the police in the case - a decision earlier deferred by the court - the South judicial magistrate further ruled that sections pertaining to rape were to be included in the case against Azhar.

The court also ordered that the cleric who solemnised Arzoo and Azhar's marriage and the relevant justice of peace and the marriage witnesses, namely lawyer Mehmood Hassan and Junaid Ali Siddiqui, be tried for facilitating the solemnising of the underage marriage.

It further ruled that Ali's brother, Mohsin Ali, be tried for hiding evidence.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 10^th, 2020.