Police stop under-age marriage, arrest 40-year-old groom in Badin
Published November 12, 2017
BADIN: Police have arrested a 40-year-old man for attempting to marry a 10-year-old in the city’s Quaidabad area, after raiding the wedding ceremony.
Police said they raided the Nikah ceremony on a tip-off where the minor was being forced to marry a man identified Abdul Khaliq, and arrested him and the nikhakhwan (cleric).
Khaliq, married and a father of three, told the police that he had paid Rs20,000 to the girl’s father for wedding expenses.
Various cases of child marriage have surfaced this year despite the practice being outlawed.
In August, a minor girl fell victim to the barbaric practice of ‘vani’ when a jirga ordered to marry off a 10-year-old to an 80-year-old man in Rahim Yar Khan.
The decision was taken to 'punish' the girl's grandfather, Hanif, who chose to enter into a love marriage with a woman three years ago, angering the elders of the family.
The jirga, as a result, decided to compensate for the ‘love marriage’ by declaring ‘vani’ for the minor girl.
