Jirga justice: Mother killed for opposing vani

Suspect had wanted 12-year-old sister to be handed over to his brother-in-law.

GUJRANWALA:

A woman was shot and killed in Pindi Bhattian on Saturday night allegedly by her son for refusing to allow her daughter to be handed over as vani.

An FIR registered against the suspect, Asif Ali Babar, a resident of Chaki Wali village, and six others at the Pindi Bhattian police station says that Khursheed Bibi had refused to abide by a vani settlement requiring her 12-year-old daughter to be married to a man from the family of a woman Babar had married without her family’s consent.

Complaint Riaz Bhatti, brother of the deceased, told The Express Tribune that the suspects had arranged the child’s ‘marriage’ with Mehdi Hasan, Babar’s brother-in-law, three months ago. The marriage was arranged to settle a dispute between Babar and his second wife’s family.

The complainant said his brother-in-law (child’s father) had filed a kidnapping case against Hasan after the child was forcibly married and sent with him. He said he had moved court for her recovery over police’s failure to take action against the suspect. He said a court bailiff had then recovered the child from Hasan’s custody from Chiniot some two and a half months ago and sent her to live with her parents.

The complainant said his nephew (Babar) and the former nazim had earlier planned to marry the child to a son of one Saifullah, who is also nominated in the case. He said the marriage could not take place as his sister had sent the girl to a relative’s house. “Babar brought her back and arranged her marriage with his wife’s brother,” he said. Babar’s second wife, who is also nominated in the FIR, has been arrested by the police. SHO Rana Sajjad said Ansar Abbas Bhatti, the former tehsil nazim who allegedly declared Babar’s 12-year-old sister vani, was abroad and could, therefore, not be arrested at the moment. He said raids were underway to arrest others.

Killed for dissent

In another incident in Gujranwala, a girl was killed allegedly by her brother because she had refused to marry a man he had selected for her.

An FIR registered on a complaint filed by the father of the deceased stated that she was interested in marrying a paternal cousin but her brother, Afzal Ahmed, wanted her to marry a maternal cousin. Ahmed allegedly shot her, killing her on the spot, after an argument over the issue on Saturday night.

SHO Zaman Mirza said the body had been sent for an autopsy. He said police were raiding potential hideouts for the arrest of the suspect.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 12^th, 2011.