MIANWALI, Nov 6: A 20-year-old victim of vani — a tribal practice of giving the hand of a girl, even an infant, in marriage to settle a dispute — has taken refuge in a local shelter home after spending three years in captivity.

Sadaf Parveen, who hails from Bhalwal in the Sargodha district, told reporters here that she became embroiled in a family feud when her late grandfather gave her hand in marriage to Hamid Ashraf while she was a toddler to settle a murder dispute.

But sense prevailed in her family when, after the grandfather’s death, they refused to allow Parveen, now a grown-up lady, to marry Ashraf.

An enraged Ashraf abducted her and took her to a village near Lahore where he held her in captivity for three years.

The feuding families clashed with each other and a bloody shootout claimed the lives of an uncle and a cousin of Ashraf’s and left a cousin of Parveen’s wounded.

Parveen said that for three years Ashraf kept her like his wife without a valid nikahnama (marriage certificate).