Gender-based-violence court sentences man to two-year jail for child marriage

A gender-based-violence court has sentenced a man to two-year imprisonment for marrying an underage girl. Fourty-two-year-old Muhammad Aslam was found guilty of contracting marriage with a 15-year-old girl in violation of the Section 3 of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act.

Additional Sessions Judge (West) Irshad Hussain ruled that the prosecution had successfully proved its case against the accused, who also pleaded guilty to the offence. The judge handed down two years of imprisonment to the convict and ordered him to pay a fine of Rs20,000. In case of default, he would have to undergo an additional two-month imprisonment.

However, the judge, instead of sending him to jail to serve out the sentence, handed over his custody to a probation officer under the Section 5 of the Probation of Offenders Ordinance keeping in view the fact that he was a first-time offender and sole breadwinner of his family.

"Sending him to jail to serve out the sentence will not benefit him to reform his life and mend his ways," remarked the judge, adding it would be appropriate to hand his custody over to the probation officer, who shall release him after obtaining a bond subject to the conditions that the convict shall furnish Rs20,000 bond and commit to rehabilitating himself as a good citizen with a promise to not repeat the same offence.

He warned that if the convict violated the terms of the bond, the order of probation shall be withdrawn and he will be sent behind the bars to serve out the sentence. The judge noted that the normal penalty for the offence provided under the Section 3 of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act was up to three years of imprisonment but not less than two years with a fine. However, he added there were mitigating circumstances to the effect that the accused was not a charge-sheeter and sole breadwinner of his family.

"During his statement recorded under section 342 of CrPC the above named accused himself admitted his guilt voluntarily and deposed that he was ashamed of his guilt and that he is first offender and assured the court that he will not repeat the offence and left himself at the mercy of court by saying that he is the only bread earner for his minor infant daughter and his wife," the judge said.

In her testimony, the girl deposed that she contracted marriage with Aslam of her own freewill on May 30, 2022 and that she was 19 years old at the time of her marriage. Her Nikahnama also showed her age as 19 years. However, a medical examination proved that she was a minor aged 15 years.

She testified that she left her house voluntarily and was not abducted by the accused, leading to the dropping of the kidnapping charge against him. The girl further stated that her father would beat her mother and her and did not also provide for them, adding that her paternal uncles supported them financially. She said that her paternal uncle had demanded Rs1 million from the accused when he sent the marriage proposal.

An FIR was lodged at the Mominabad police station under the sections 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of 14) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with the sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act on the complaint of the girl's father.