Daily Times

SHIKARPUR: A five-year-old girl was married to a 22-year-old boy at village Raman Shar in outskirts of Dakhan Town some 40 kilometers away from here in limits of Gaheja Police Station.

On information, a police party headed by SHO Dakhan, Khuda Bakhsh Panhwar succeeded in arresting nikah-khawan, Molvi Kifayatullah Bhutto, groom Habibullah Shar and father of the groom Gul Meer.

The police also took custody of daughter of Papo Aka Zameer Shar with her mother. Dakhan Police shifted arrested persons to Gaheja Police where a case has been registered against accused persons under early child marriages restraint Act 2013-section 3, 4 and 5 Pakistan Penal Code.

Deputy Director Social Welfare Larkana, Faheem Bhutto has informed that the department has been playing an active role for referral mechanism and highlighting such matters.

Naveed Ahmed Phulpoto, Child Protection Officer at Indus Resource Centre has said that we would inform higher authorities about this as centre has no powers to take action against the accused.

Shahab Osto, prominent lawyer and analyst termed the nikah as illegal and it has no legal status according to Sindh Child Marriages restraint-Act 2013.

Child marriage is a crime and injustice. It leads to social isolation and robs the educational opportunities from a girl as she has the complete right to live her life freely and should not be forced for early age marriage.

Zulfikar Ali Soomro, District Coordinator Human Rights Foundation Shikarpur strongly condemned early age marriage and urged the rulers to take measures for implementing Child Restrain-Act 2013 while demanding punishment to involved persons violating the rules. Abdul Sattar Kaladi, Chief of Shahri Itehad Shikarpur expressed his dissatisfaction over implementation on Child Restraint-Act by government and emphasized the need of a campaign against early child marriages across Sindh to achieve the purpose. Naveed Alam Abro, Human Right Activist said civil society should come forward to discourage such incidents besides domestic violence in society. Sindh government passing this law on April 28, 2014 has declared such marriages illegal and 3 years imprisonment to involved persons.

Published in Daily Times, July 23^rd , 2017.