PESHAWAR, Dec 19: Taking suo motu notice of a swara case, Chief Justice Peshawar High Court Dost Mohammad Khan on Monday directed the provincial government and the relevant district administration to provide security to the four-year-old victim of the child marriage custom and her family.

Under swara widely prevalent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and adjoining tribal areas, girls are married mostly against their will to men of rival families to end blood feuds.

The chief justice had converted an application of girl Asma’s brother belonging to Upper Dir into a writ petition before holding a hearing into it.

After killing the girl’s father and brother, the accused have reportedly been threatening the family with death in case of rejection of the swara request. The accused said the girl’s elder sister had defamed them by getting divorce from their relative and therefore, they wanted the four-year-old’s marriage to one of their family’s members for repair of their honour.

The chief justice ordered the DIG Malakand Range and district police officer of Upper Dir to arrest the four people and produce them before the court on the next hearing fixed for Dec 29.

He observed that the life of the girl and her family members was under serious threat and that the relevant record showed that the accused were involved in the ‘highly detestable crime, which is against Shariah and laws of the land’.

“Seeking a girl in swara is a serious crime and impermissible,” he said.

Justice Dost Mohammad ordered the provincial home secretary, the commissioner and the deputy inspector general of Malakand, and district police officer of Upper Dir to ensure immediate provision of protection to the girl and her family and deployment of personnel at their house.

The court also asked the Peshawar capital city police’s chief to provide special police squad to the girl and her brother, Hafeezur Rehman, on their return from Peshawar to their village in Upper Dir.

Earlier, Mr Hafeez appeared before the chief justice along with his sister and submitted an application. After examining the application, the chief justice recorded his statement on oath.

According to the applicant, he belongs to Kalkot Village of Upper Dir. A few years ago, his sister, Ruqiya, was married to Subhanuddin, a disabled person. Later, the relations of the couple got so strained that his sister returned to her parents and moved the relevant family court for khula (divorce). The court gave verdict in her favour to the anger of her ex-husband’s family, especially brothers and nephews.

The applicant said a jirga turned down a request of the family of his ex-brother-in-law for Asma in swara declaring an un-Islamic custom.

He accused the four accused, Izzat Mohammad, Nasrullah, Wazir Mohammad and Wali Mohammad, of killing his father, Mohammad Daud, and brother, Abdul Hameed, on November 12, 2011 and alleged that police didn’t arrest them despite registration of an FIR against them.

The applicant alleged that the accused had been threatening him to kill him and his family if the girl was not given in marriage under swara custom.