Police foil minor girl’s marriage to a 38-year-old man in Shikarpur

By Muhammad YaseenPublished On 06 Jan 2023

SHIKARPUR: Police on Wednesday foiled a bid to marry a minor girl in Shikarpur to a 38-year-old man and arrested the father of the girl for his involvement.

According to police, an attempt was made to marry a 12-year-old girl in Shikarpur in violation of the provincial child marriages restraint act.

The police carried out the raid at the wedding ceremony and took custody of the minor girl. The father of the girl was also nabbed in the action while the groom and the prayer leader, who had to perform Nikkah ceremony, fled from the scene.

According to the police, the bride and his father would be presented before the court tomorrow and the parent could face up to three years in prison over facilitating the underage marriage.

On November 05, police conducted raid at a wedding gathering arresting two accused involved in the marriage of a minor girl with the 38-year old man.

The police raided Saleem Shar village in Khairpur district after informed about child marriage in the village where an underage girl was being married to 48-year old Abdul Karim Shar, SHO said.

Police arrested a brother of bridegroom Allahdino Shar and Rabel Shar in a timely raid at the gathering.

The issue of child marriage is rampant in Sindh, despite legislation passed by the provincial legislature.

The Sindh government takes credit for becoming the country’s first elected assembly to have passed a bill on child marriages, which places a ban on marriage of children under 18 years and makes its a violation punishable with rigorous imprisonment of up to three years, but the law is still poorly enforced.

The Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013, a landmark piece of legislation, was aimed at ending early marriages in Sindh.