PESHAWAR, Aug 4: A prayer leader and four other people charged with handing over a three-month baby girl in Swara to a rival family were granted bail by the Peshawar High Court on Friday.

The nikah of the minor girl, Sadaf, was solemnised with Zohaib Khan, aged about one-and-a-half years, in the Totalai village in the Buner district five months ago. The case was registered on March 10 under section 310A of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Totalai police station.

The accused were granted bail on the ground that the law prohibiting the inhuman custom of Swara had yet to be extended to the Provincially Administered Tribal Areas (Pata). Section 310A of the Pakistan Penal Code, enacted on Jan 11, 2005, is, therefore, not applicable in Buner as it is situated in Pata.

Justice Raza Mohammad Khan, who heard the petition, granted the accused the bail against two sureties of Rs100,000 each.

The accused are: Mohammad Shamim, the girl’s grandfather; Fazal Ameen, her uncle; Wali Khan, the boy’s father; Mira Khan, a jirga member; and Umer Saeed, who is a prayer leader and had performed the nikah of the two children.

Essa Khan, Fida Gul and Sahibzada Asadullah appeared for the petitioners.

Mr Khan argued that section 310-A had been incorporated in the Pakistan Penal Code on Jan 11, 2005. He said that under the said section, a person who gave a girl in marriage as badal-i-sulah should be punished with rigorous imprisonment which might extend to 10 years and should not be less than three years.

He said that under Article 247 (3) of the constitution, no law was applicable to Pata unless it was extended to the region through a notification by the governor with approval of the president. He argued that the governor had not issued the required notification. He contended that presently, the act of the petitioners did not amount to any crime under the PPC.

According to facts of the case, Sher Nawaz had allegedly seen his wife, Sardara Bibi, in objectionable position with one of his relatives, Saleem Khan, following which he had divorced her.

As relations of the two families turned soar after the incident, a jirga was held to decide the issue.

The jirga decided that the three-month old niece of Saleem, Sadaf, should be given in Swara and her nikah should be solemnised with Zohaib, the nephew of Sher Nawaz and son of Wali Khan. It also directed Saleem’s family to pay Rs800,000 to the rivals as compensation.

The family of Saleem paid the money and the nikah of the two minors was solemnised accordingly. It was decided that rukhsati of the girl would take place after she attains puberty.

When Sardara Bibi came to know about the development, she registered an FIR, alleging that Saleem had raped her. She also informed police about the jirga decision.