For shame: Seven arrested over child marriage

Six-year-old sent to the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau.

LAHORE: Nawab Town police on Sunday took the groom and five other people into custody for marrying a six-year-old girl.

The child was handed over to the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau Lahore.

Those arrested during the raid included groom Khizer Ahmed’s father Ijaz Husain and the child’s father Muhammad Abbas.

Chuhng Circle Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Irfan Ali Samoon said Ahmed was a nephew of Abbas’s second wife. He said initial inquiry had revealed that Abbas’s second marriage was arranged a couple of years ago with an understanding that he would give his daughter in marriage to one of his wife’s nephews. He said an aunt of the child told the police that Abbas had also borrowed some money from the groom’s father.

Both families belonged to a village in Bahawalnagar.

The ASP said the child was raised by her aunt after the death of her mother. However, he said, her father took her away from the aunt a few months ago.

On Sunday, the ASP said, the police raided the wedding ceremony at a house in Dubai Town on a tip off from a child rights activist. He said dowry items including clothes and jewelry were seized.

An FIR was registered against the suspects under the Child Marriage Restraint Act.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 13^th, 2015.