Larkana police rescue girl from child marriage

The Larkana police barged into a wedding ceremony and rescued a 13-year-old girl from child marriage on Sunday. On learning that the girl’s family was giving her away due to abject poverty, the Larkana district police chief authorized a grant of Rs50,000 on his discretion to provide some temporary support to the family.

The Larkana police took action on the report of marriage of 13 years old girl Aliya daughter of Khalid Hussain. Larkana district police chief SSP Syed Abdul Rahim Shirazi directed DSP Headquarters Sarfraz Ahmed and SHO Abdul Malik Bhutto and SHO Women Police Station to raid the house of Khalid Hussain to stop the wedding taking place in violation of the Sindh Child Marriage Act.

Police checked the B-Form of Aliya Khalid Hussain confirming her official age. The parents of the teenager girl told the police that they were giving away her child in marriage due to poor economic condition. On this, the SSP Larkana gave financial support of Rs50,000 to the girl’s parents. The Sindh Child Marriage Act enacted in 2013 prohibits the marriage of any child under the age of eighteen years and provides penalties for a male contracting party, the person who solemnizes the marriage as well as the parent or guardian concerned.

Sindh is the first province in Pakistan that passed the ’Sindh Marriage Restraint Act 2013’ with an aim to prevent solemnization of children’s marriages. However, eight years on, implementation of this law is still a great challenge for the authorities. Child rights expert Sarah Zaman has said that the operational gaps and challenges in the implementation and added that there are lacunas in the act, but its legitimacy is still there.

"Pakistan is in trauma due to the flood disaster, but on the other hand we face several cases of trafficking, rape, and child marriages," she said, adding that poverty is not the main reason for child marriages, other socio-political issues also need to be kept in mind while proposing amendments. Meanwhile, in March 2023, the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) in Islamabad, dismissed a petition challenging the vires of the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013, which set the minimum age of marriage for both girls and boys at 18 years in the province. A full bench heard the petition filed by a citizen. The petitioner had claimed that the Act was un-Islamic and violated the injunctions of Islam.

APP