MULTAN, March 4th: Four Hindus (minority community) were arrested by Tabassum Shaheed Police who were member of a panchayat (Local Jirga) suspected of marrying off a nine-year-old girl in Vani in a Rahim Yar Khan district's village after taking notice of the incident and registering a First-Information Report (FIR) against the alleged offenders.DPO Rahimyar Khan Zeeshan Asghar told that A police party headed by SHO/Inspector Haji Muhammad Yasin raided the Chak No.84-Abbasia and Chak No,269-N/1 in Cholistan late night. They were identified as Kaloo son of Dittan, Kastoora Ram, Punnu sons of Alam Ram and Gammu son of Harri Lal and an FIR No.46/2016 was registered under section 310 of Pakistan Penal Code.Haji Yasin SHO told that the marriage of 9 year old girl has been halted. Police said that a panchayat had decided earlier this week to give the girl as Vani in marriage to a 14-year-old boy in order to settle what was alleged to be a murder dispute. The arrested men are said to be signatories of the panchayat ruling.
After the girl's brother's wife died earlier in February, her family suspected foul play. A panchayat was held in which it was decided that the nine-year-old sister of the alleged murderer would be married as Vani to a 14-year-old cousin of the deceased wife. The man was also asked to pay a Rs150,000 fine to his deceased wife's relatives.DPO said, "As soon as we learnt of the incident, we registered an FIR and then arrested the suspects in a raid. We also recovered the panchayati order that gave the girl as Vani in marriage to the boy."
