SUKKUR, Feb 16: A Madressah teacher claimed to have married his nine-year-old girl student in the Microwave Colony here and asked her father on Monday to hand the girl over to him.

Sanam, 9, daughter of Mohammad Saleh Kori, used to go to the Madressah of Maulvi Abdul Wahid Chachar to learn the Holy Quran. On Monday when the Madressah was over, Maulvi Abdul Wahid stopped her, saying that she was his wife and would have to live with him.

The girl rushed to her house and told her parents about the incident. Her father went to the Madressah and complained to the teacher. But Maulvi Abdul Wahid showed him a Nikahnama which had his (father's) signatures and that of the girl, and asked him to hand the girl over to him as she was his wife.

Later, Saleh Kori and Sanam told journalists that Maulvi Abdul Wahid had taken their signatures on a form, saying that after signing it, they would receive Zakat.

Saleh Kori added that being illiterate he did not know the difference between Zakat form and Nikahnama. He said that the Chachar tribesmen were pressuring him to hand the girl over to them, threatening that otherwise they would kidnap her.

Maulvi Abdul Wahid, defending his position, claimed that Sanam was married to him with the consent of her father, and that a person named Khursheed Ahmed, was witness to the marriage. The incident has caused tension in the area.