



Six men were arrested in a Bhakkar village and an 11-year-old child declared vani and married to her 25-year-old cousin recovered by Saddar police on Wednesday morning.





Those arrested included Mazhar, the man who married the child; Mazhar’s father Muhammad Bakhsh; Kurro Allahdad, who had headed the panchayat; Altaf, a brother of the child; Allah Bakhsh, the cleric who solicited the marriage and Saleem.According to the complaint filed by Zaitoon Bibi, mother of the child, the child was kidnapped from her parents’ home in Bhel village allegedly by Bakhsh and his men on Tuesday night. The suspects raided the house with support of child’s elder brother Altaf, who had started the dispute between the two families by allegedly sexually harassing one of Bakhsh’s daughters-in-law a week ago.A panchayat convened in the village three days ago had decided that Bakhsh would abandon the idea of prosecuting Altaf under Section 13/20 of the Pakistan Penal Code if the family agreed to ‘marry’ the child to Mazhar.Sher Muhammad and Zaitoon Bibi, parents of the child, had rejected the decision. They said Bakhsh had come to them and asked for the girl’s hand but they had refused. “She’s too young to be married. I told him (Bakhsh) that he can settle the matter the way he wants but I will not let my daughter to be married at such a young age,” Muhammad said.He said on Tuesday night Bakhsh and other armed suspects broke into his house and kidnapped the child. “He held us at gunpoint and kidnapped my daughter,” he said. Muhammad said he then rushed to the Bhel police post to report the incident.A team from Saddar police station, led by DPO Rai Mazhar, then raided Bakhsh’s house and recovered the child. Six of the eleven suspects nominated in the FIR were arrested during the raid. The DPO told the Tribune that a police team had been deployed at the family’s house to prevent any untoward incident. “They requested us to provide security as some of the suspects are still at large and may try to attack the family,” he said.Compounding of qisas (Sulh) in qatl-i-amd:(1) In the case of qatl-i-amd, an adult sane wali may, at any time on accepting badl-i-sulh, compound his right of qisas:(Provided that a female shall not be given in marriage or otherwise in badal-i-sulh)Published in The Express Tribune, December 15, 2011.