KHAIRPUR: Police today (Thursday) have arrested four people for marrying off a nine-year-old girl to a 50-year-old man in Khairpur district’s Faiz Ganj area.
According to details, the police arrested the accused groom, Makhan Lashari, and the girl’s father, Ghaman Lashari, who had allegedly accepted money in exchange for consenting to the marriage.
The police had sprung into action after reports of the marriage surfaced on social media a few days ago. The mother of the girl and other relatives had earlier blamed the girl’s father for having sold off his daughter to the accused groom for Rs 500,000.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against four persons on behalf of the state under section 3 (punishment for a male contracting party), section 4 (punishment for solemnising a child marriage) and section 5 (punishment for parent or guardian concerned in child marriage) of Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013.
The law enforcement agency said that they were carrying out raids to arrest others accused of facilitating the marriage.
Child marriage is a punishable offence in Sindh. According to the Child Marriages Restraint Act, a child marriage includes any marriage where one of the contracting parties is less than 18 years of age.
Those found guilty of entering into, or facilitating, child marriage can be sentenced to rigorous punishment for up to three years.
ADVERTISEMENT
