DADU: Dadu police on Sunday picked up a 40-year-old groom and took into protective custody a nine-year-old girl to foil their wedding at a ceremony which was under way at Marvi Colony.

Sajjad Kurtio was to wed the underage girl, Reema Khoso, when police received the information and carried out a raid on the venue to foil the wedding.

They also picked up the girl’s father, Ghulam Hyder Khoso, for interrogation but the Nikah registrar slipped away.

SHO Noor Mustafa Pathan of the A-Section police said that according to the initial inquiry, the girl’s father was made to marry off her to Kurtio against a sum of Rs40,000.

He said the girl and the suspects would be produced before a magistrate on Monday.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2019