‘Underage marriage’: Court to decide action on father’s complaint

Police arrest six men including 35-year-old man who was allegedly to be married to an 11-year-old child.

SARGODHA:

Bhalwal City police on Monday arrested six people including a 35-year-old before he could allegedly marry an 11-year-old child in Chak 18 North.

Besides bridegroom Gul Sher, the others arrested were his brother-in-law Pervaiz, brother Muzaffar Iqbal, uncle Muhammad Rafiq, Muhammad Yar and Muhammad Warris.

SHO Fazal Qadir told The Express Tribune that the six men and the child would be presented before a judicial magistrate on Tuesday morning. The police would proceed in the matter in accordance with the directive of a magistrate, he added. The SHO said he could not register an FIR as there was no evidence of a crime taking place. “So far, we cannot establish any cognisable offence in the matter,” he said. “I have also referred the matter to the legal branch for their opinion,” he said.

He said the men and the child would remain in police custody until the hearing. “We also don’t have any document to ascertain the age of the child. A medical examination may be conducted to verify the age on the magistrate’s directive,” he said. The complainant, the girl’s father Omer Farooq, said she was 11.

The SHO said the complaint appeared to be unfounded as there were no witnesses or evidence to back it up. He said the child’s maternal grandfather and Gul Sher had denied the allegation. He quoted the two men as saying that Monday’s ceremony was held to celebrate one of her grand father Muhammad Mansha’s sons’ marriage with Sher’s sister. He said it was possible that Farooq was using the complaint as a pretext to claim guardianship of the girl. The child had been living at her grandfather’s house since Farooq and her mother’s divorce in 2000, he said. He added that a court had in 2000 rejected Farooq’s petition for the girl’s guardianship and let her stay with her mother, who died a few years after the divorce, at Mansha’s house.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Mansha admitted to arranging the child’s marriage with Sher. He said the two were to tie the knot on Monday. But, he added, the child was not to be sent with Sher until she had attained the legal age for marriage (16 years according to the Muslim Family Law Ordinance). Sher corroborated Mansha’s statement.

The raid was carried out on a complaint filed by Omar Farooq, the father of the child. Farooq had stated that the child was underage and, therefore, could not be married. He stated that the marriage with Sher was settled in a watta satta arrangement. Sher’s sister’s marriage to one of Mansha’s sons had already taken place on Sunday. Farooq said he and the child’s mother had separated following their divorce nine years ago.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2012.