KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced a man to two years in prison for marrying an underage girl.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ashraf Hussain Khowaja, who is also a presiding officer of Gender Based-Trial Court (South), found Ashraf Ali Lakhwera, guilty of marrying a 16-year-old girl under Section 3 of the Sindh Child Restraint Marriage Act, 2013.

After pronouncing the judgement, the court directed police to take the convict into custody and cancelled the surety bond of the convict, who appeared in court on bail.

It also imposed a fine of Rs100,000, on default the convict would undergo an additional three-month imprisonment.

According to state prosecutor Irfana Qadri, the complainant informed the police that he had hired a tutor (the accused) for his daughter, who was a ninth-grade student. However, after four months, he dismissed the tutor as his daughter was not progressing in her Sindhi language studies.

In March 2019, while the complainant was in Lahore for work, he received a call from his wife, informing him that their daughter was missing. After returning to Karachi, he initially tried to find her himself. When he failed, he approached the police and lodged a complaint. The father alleged that the tutor had abducted his daughter and married her without consent and committed rape. He also alleged that the accused also stole gold ornaments, mobile phones, documents and cash from their house.

Later, the police apprehended the accused and recovered the girl.

In her testimony, the victim stated that the accused — said to be father of four children — had been her schoolteacher and also came to her home to teach her in Sindhi studies. However, she added that he began discussing personal matters with her and offered to help her pass the examination if she agreed to talk to him over the phone.

The victim further claimed that the accused proposed her to marry him and instructed her to take gold ornaments and other valuables, as well as her B-form and passport from her house when she had to leave. She claimed that when the accused learned her father was out of the city, he asked her to leave the house as he was coming to pick her up.

The court noted that in her statement, the victim admitted she had left her parents’ house and married the accused of her own free will in Sukkur.

Published in Dawn, September 20th, 2024