LAHORE, March 4: The Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan has proposed that all people deciding to contract a marriage for vani or sawara through a Jirga or a panchayat, should be liable to a rigorous imprisonment of up to 10 years.
The commission has drafted a bill and sent it to the federal government for insertion of Section 366-C in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) through an act of parliament.
The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the commission in Islamabad where the customs of vani and sawara were discussed and termed violative of the Universal Human Rights Declaration as well as articles 14, 25, 34 and 35 of the constitution pertaining to dignity of human beings, equality of citizens, full participation of women in all spheres of national life and protection of marriage, family and the mother and the child.
According to reliable sources, the commission observed that vani and sawara, prevalent in the Punjab and the NWFP respectively, for marrying off women to members of a rival party as an instrument of settling a vendetta or effecting a compromise in a dispute, were inhuman and against the injunctions of Islam.
The amendment to the PPC has been proposed upon a reference made by the president's secretariat, which cited a Nikah solemnized about 20 years ago between three daughters of a person aged four, eight and 18 months to three members of a rival party to settle a murder dispute at Dhar Yanowala in the NWFP.
The rukhsati of the eldest was performed five years ago. But the youngest, now a student of MA, refused to accept the marriage. The local Jirga imposed a fine of Rs300,000 on girl's guardians for breaching the agreement.
The Law and Justice Commission, according to sources, observed that Sections 310 and 338-E of the PPC prohibited giving away a female person for effecting a compromise (Badl-i-Sulh) while a 1929 act restrained marriages of minors. The two laws should be an effective preventive legal measure against abuse of children's rights.
The commission, on receipt of a reference from the president's secretariat, referred the matter to the National Judicial (Policy-Making) Committee which approved commission's proposals against the evil custom.
The commission wrote to chief justices of the four provinces in Dec 2001 that laws against the marriage of children and customs of vani and sawara should be implemented in letter and spirit. The chief justices issued directions to the subordinate judiciary to ensure compliance with these laws.
Later, the Punjab Assembly in a resolution urged the federal and provincial governments that the law should be so amended as to slap a five-year imprisonment on those resorting to vani. The resolution wanted all those involved in such a decision, including members of a panchayat, to be punished.
The NWFP, accordingly, proposed enactment of the Prohibition of Marriage Act 2003, to prevent sawara, but fixed no punishment for offenders. The Justice and Law Commission, according to sources, felt dissatisfied with the implementation machinery because the menace did not abate despite strict legal vigilance.
The commission finally came out with the draft amendment to Section 366 of the PPC by insertion of Section 366-C: "Whosoever takes part in reconciliation or panchayat and thereby requires any person to offer or accept, and whosoever so offers and accepts in marriage a woman (defined as having attained the age of 16 years) against her free will, or a female child in lieu of any concession to an accused person, or as a compensation for an act when such act is an offence under the law, or as Badl-i-Sulh, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may be extended to 10 years and shall also be liable to fine."
