Man on the run after selling daughters into marriage

Sindh Minister for Human Rights Nadia Gabol asks IG Shah to arrest Hasan.


Our Correspondent May 28, 2012

KARACHI: When Hameeda and her sister reached their father’s house in Korangi on Sunday afternoon, they stood outside and waited for him.

They yelled out his name several times but he did not step out. The sisters did manage to wake up the entire neighbourhood. Once the residents stepped out, the Zaman Town police also got there and took 28-year-old Hameeda and her 16-year-old sister Majida to the police station.

At the station, the sisters registered a case under section 371 of the Pakistan Penal Code against their father, Ali Hasan, for forcing them into marriage. SHO Dilawar Jhokio suspected that Hasan, the father of nine children and husband to two wives, managed to escape before they got there.

According to Hameeda,  Hasan sold her to a man in Punjab for Rs10,000 nearly 15 years ago. She managed to run away from him and claimed that she was forced to work on farms.

“At first the man adopted me,” she said. “We got married a few years later and now I am the mother of six children.” She added that her father had sold Majida and their sister Sajida, 13, three years ago in marriage for Rs60,000. Hasan’s other daughter Samoda, 18, married of her free will two years ago.

SHO Jhokio said that Hasan used to teach people about religion in the neighbourhood. He added that raids were being carried out to find the man. Sindh Minister for Human Rights Nadia Gabol asked IG Mushtaq Shah to look into the matter and arrest Hasan.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 28th, 2012.

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