A court in southeast Pakistan has sentenced a man, Muhammad Aslam, to two-year jail for marrying a 15-year-old girl.
Prosecution team informed that the suspect had tied the knot with the underage girl in a court, and fabricated her age from 15 to 19 years in the documents to misguide the authorities. However, medical reports showed that the is actually 15 years.
A kidnapping case was filed against the man at Mominabad Police Station at the behest of the girl’s father also roping in witnesses, Nikkah khawan and others under Child Restraint Marriage Act.
The girl said that the matrimonial union between her and Aslam had been consensual, however, the court sentenced Aslam to jail after he was found guilty.
This isn’t the first instance in the country where marriage with an underage has happened. A 2019 report issued by the World Health Organization stated that more than 140 million underage girls are likely to get married between the years 2011-2020, in Pakistan.
Titled, “Demographics of child marriages in Pakistan”, the report states that child marriage remains a serious concern in Pakistan, with 21 per cent of the girls getting married before reaching the age of 18 especially in the rural areas.
The formal marriage or informal marriage occurs before the age of 18 throughout the world, the report said. However, being forced into marriage before one was able to give consent, violates the basic human rights of boys and girls, it added.
