SANGHAR, Jan 9: An 11-year-old girl has alleged that she has been tortured by her father-in-law in her village, Chak No97 on the Head Jamrao road.

Talking to journalists, Nazia alias Nazan, said that her husband, Dholan Chandio, 24, was a kind man, but his father, Buggo Chandio, forced her to graze goats and bring fodder, and if she failed to do so, her father-in-law would subject her to torture - either beating her with a cane or stringing her to the ceiling.

She showed what she said were signs of beating causing fractures on her arm, marks of severe beating on her body, particularly on the back, and a wound mark on the head.

Nazan is the second wife of Dholan, whose first wife, Seema, had committed suicide at the age of 20. After Seema's death, his sister, Abida, was married to Nazan's brother and he married her in exchange.

Her father, Gullo Chandio, said that he had given his daughter in the exchange marriage on condition that she would be sent to her in-laws' home on attaining puberty, but after a few months, he was forced to send Nazan to their home.

They had promised that she would be looked after as their own daughter, but was subjected to inhuman torture - the father-in-law broke her limbs simply because she could not do the household work owing to her age, he added.

A few days ago, Nazan took shelter in the house of a landlord, Kamal Din Shar, and from there, she reached her father's house. On Tuesday, a jirga will be held at the Otaq (guest house) of the landlord to decide Nazia's fate.

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