Underage girl allegedly abducted, married to 45-year-old man in Punjab

FAISALABAD: A case has been registered against six men for allegedly abducting a 12-year-old girl from Ahmedabad who was later married to a 45-year-old man, ARY News reported on Saturday.

Six accused have been booked in a case over the alleged abduction of an underage girl from Ahmedabad and later forcing her to marry a 45-year-old man.

The girl was recovered by police officials, however, the accused managed to flee from the location.

A local court ordered relevant authorities to determine the girl’s age. The court also chided the investigation officer for mentioning the wrong age of the girl as 17.

Read: Lahore police bust gang ‘involved in trafficking underage girls’; recover minor

The father of the girl appealed the higher authorities to take action against the responsible persons. He complained about non-cooperation from the police department in the case.

Earlier in November, a case of child marriage had surfaced in the Thul town of Sindh’s Sukkur despite a law outlawing such marriages put in place.

The local police had taken custody of an underage couple in Sukkur’s Thul town. They said that the minor girl’s father and the boy’s brother have been arrested over the child marriage while a cleric who solemnised the nikkah fled the scene. A police official said they will have both minors medically examined to determine their age.

People below the age of 18 can’t be married under the Child Marriage Restraint Act.