Pakistani police rescued a 10-year-old girl from being married off to a 50-year-old groom in Jacobabad the other day.
According to details, police personnel raided the area of Thal in Jacobabad and thwarted the attempt of child marriage.
The officers have also arrested a 50-year-old groom while girl’s father and cleric fled the scene.
The under custody groom told the security officers that minor girl’s father took Rs 4lac for the marriage.
Moreover, police have launched an investigation into the matter to the National Accountability bureau (NAB).
Three percent of girls in Pakistan are married before they turn 15 and 21 percent before the age of 18, according to the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) data.
The parents of child brides are often poor and use marriage as a way to provide for their daughter’s future, especially in areas where there are few economic opportunities for women.
In January, a powerful religious body that advises the government on the compatibility of laws with Islam blocked a bill to impose harsher penalties for marrying off girls as young as eight or nine.
Under existing laws, parents of child brides are punishable by only a month in prison and a fine of 1,000 rupees ($10).