HYDERABAD: Police arrested three men, including the groom, during a raid on the wedding ceremony of an underage girl in a small village of Khuda Bux Brohi near Almani, Tando Fazal Mari, on Thursday.

Husri police SHO Asad Nabi Khichi said that acting on a tip-off police raided the village where Nikah was being solemnised of underage Husan Bano, daughter of the late Nawab Brohi, with 55-year-old Mohammad Yousuf, son of Miran Khan Brohi, resident of Thana Bula Khan.

Police arrested three men, including Yousuf, his elder brother Majeed Brohi and brother of the bride Abbas Brohi. Police also detained the bride, but the Nikah Khawan escaped, he said.

Quoting the girl, he said, her distant relative Noor Bano, wife of Allah Dad Brohi, had taken some money from the groom for the marriage.

He said she was to be medically examined and would be produced in a court of law on Friday and kept in a women police station. He said that police lodged a case (25/16) under Sections 3/4/5 of the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013 on behalf of the state.

Yousuf told reporters that normally men did not see their would-be wives when marriages were finalised. He said he was not aware of the girl’s age and denied having paid any money for this marriage.

The bride told reporters that her mother had forced her to marry the old man.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2016