14-year-old refuses to honour wani arrangement

Quaidabad police registers case under Wani Act Article 130 against panchayat and groom for declaring girl wani.

GAROT: Quaidabad police registered a case under the Wani Act Article 130 against a panchayat and a groom for declaring a 14-year-old girl from Shah Wala as wani.

The girl, Tasleem Bibi threatened to commit suicide if she were forced to wed a married man. According to locals, in 2003 Shah Wala resident Muhammad Hayat raped a woman Walaitan Bibi from his own family and fled his village.

The panchayat including Muhammad Bukhsh, Zahar Ali, Muhammad Sher, Noor Muhammad and Abdul Rehman then issued a verdict that accused Muhammad Hayat’s seven-year-old granddaughter would be married to Walaitan Bibi’s nephew Mazhar.

In keeping with this verdict Haji Abdul Rehman offered Tasleem bibi in nikah seven years ago. After two years Mazhar wed another woman and now has two children from his second wife.

On Friday, Mazhar’s family asked Tasleem’s family to hand over the girl after a ‘rukhsati’ ceremony but Tasleem refused to accept the wani arrangement and said she would rather commit suicide.

“They threatened that if I did not come with them or killed myself they would take my younger sister,” Tasleem Bibi told the police.

Garot police officials have registered a case against Mazhar’s father Sher Muhammad, Zahar Ali and Muhammad Sher and have started an investigation into the incident.

Police have called in several members of the panchayat for questioning.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2010.