December 18, 2006	Monday	Ziqa'ad 26, 1427

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MIANWALI, Dec 17: As many as 10 people were booked for violating vani law at Jalalpur village, some 40 kilometres from here. Reports said Riazuddin, son of Malik Din, contracted court marriage with Shaheen Bibi, daughter of Abdur Rehman, of the same village a month back.

The girls’s parents reported the matter to a customary Jirga of their tribe 18 days ago. The Jirga elders, after listening to both the parties, unanimously resolved that since Riazuddin had `defamed’ the tribe, his 20-year-old sister Rehmat Bibi be given in marriage to the brother of Shaheen Bibi as vani, and his father should pay Rs30,000 as compensation to the aggrieved party.

The verdict was promptly accepted and implemented on the spot. As a result, Rehmat Bibi was immediately brought to the house of Abdur Rehman, where she was married to his son Rehmatullah, 22.

Following her marriage, she was allegedly kept locked in a room by her in-laws for sixteen days, and was subjected to severe physical and psychological torture.

However, a couple of days back, Rehmat Bibi managed to escape from her solitary confinement and narrated her ordeal to the workers of a local NGO, who reported the matter to Kalabagh police.

SHO Inspector Allah Nawaz told Dawn that an FIR (No 199) has been registered and a case under section 310-A and 109 PPC was instituted against ten persons, including the groom, his father, and the bride’s father, besides the Jirga members, Khalil Khan, Sarwar Khan and Iqbal Khan; NikahKhawan Abdul Raheem and witnesses Hayatullah, Meena Raz Khan, Akbar Din and Riaz Din.

Sources said DPO Akhtar Hayat Lalika and SP (investigation) Mirza Safdar Inayat visited the village and investigated the matter.

They also apprehended that the police might `convince’ the families to resolve the dispute `amicably’.