BAHAWALPUR: Seven members of a village council (panchayat) were booked for threatening a man with murder and abduction of his daughter if he did not agree to their decision of marrying off his 19-year-old daughter to a year-and-a-half-old infant in Yazman tehsil, about 30km from here.

Head Rajkan police registered a first information report (FIR) on Tuesday under Section 506 of the PPC on the complaint of Muhammad Khan, a resident of village 140/DB.

Khan alleged that in August 2017, his relatives Gul Khan, Juma Khan, Akbar Khan and Shair Khan and three others had approached him and announced the decision of a panchayat that Akbar’s infant son Halim Khan would be married off to Muhammad’s daughter.

The complainant said he had rejected the proposal. But, the visitors did not listen to him, and threatened Muhammad with dire consequences if he went against the panchayat’s decision.

The FIR stated that the complainant had now fixed his daughter’s marriage elsewhere when the suspects, led by Gul Khan, threatened to kill him and abduct his daughter. Police registered a case against seven people with no arrests yet.

PROTEST: The lower staff members of government offices and field assistants of the agriculture department on Tuesday took to the streets against price hike and demanded higher pay scales.

The procession comprising clerical staff started from the local zoo with protesters holding placards inscribed with demands to increase their salaries. The procession paraded through the Stadium Road and culminated at Farid Gate.

Field assistants of the agriculture department separately protested for higher salaries and demanded the Punjab government increase their pay scales in the upcoming provincial budget.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2018