HYDERABAD:
The Mirpurkhas police recovered three young girls from the captivity of a police officer on Monday evening. The girls were kidnapped as a punishment for free-will marriage.
DSP CIA Kareem Bux Baloch told the media on Tuesday that they have arrested Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Bahadur Marri and Afzal Marri, from whom police recovered 17-year-old Aasia, 13-year-old Nazia and 12-year-old Rehana, all Manganhar by caste.
The girls as well as the officers denied the occurrence of rape, but the girls were allegedly beaten during captivity. The DSP told that they have also filed an FIR nominating nine persons with names besides about two dozen unknowns under Sections 364 and 365 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
About 40 to 50 men armed with guns and axes, led by Marri, had allegedly kidnapped the girls from their village in the jurisdiction of Dilbar Mahar police station on May 17. Men from the Manganhar community were also beaten in this incident.
Ali Nawaz Manganhar, who sustained injuries, told the media that Marris wanted to put pressure on the man who had married a woman from their family without their consent. Marris accused the Manganhars of helping the man their woman ‘eloped’ with.
Manganhars was also arrested and booked in an FIR for kidnapping, but it was later proved that it was a free-will marriage. SHO Ghazi Khan Rajar admitted that the police took a day to get the girls because the accused persons changed places.
Kidnapping of girls and women and honor killings have suddenly become a daily occurrence in Sindh, as the police are seen to act only when an incident becomes high-profile news. The burning of an entire village in Jacobabad district on May 5, if the FIR was filed after 10 days, is a recent example of inaction.
