Larkana police’s Women and Child Protection Cell (WCPC), along with other officials, conducted a raid and stopped a forced child marriage involving two teenagers in Khero Dero village of the district on Friday.
A 13-year-old girl was being forced into marriage with her 16-year-old cousin when WCPC officials, the SHO of Women Police Station Larkana and the SHO of Lashari Police Station reached the spot, according to a statement by Child Protection Officer Larkana Gada Hussain Abbasi.
Naween Mangi, who runs the Ali Hasan Mangi Memorial Trust in Upper Sindh, alerted the police about the marriage.
After finding out about the girl being “forcibly married off,” Mangi said she tried to intervene through the community to stop the marriage. When that did not work, she involved the district police.
The WCPC statement added that the groom and his family fled upon police’s arrival.
“The girl, along with her parents, was brought to the Women Police Station Larkana for her safe custody,” the statement added. The girl’s parents were counselled regarding the legal age of marriage, police said.