HYDERABAD:
The Mirpurkhas police recovered three young girls from the captivity of a police officer, on Monday night. The girls were kidnapped as a punishment for free will marriage.
The 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 the 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 cops denied occurrence of rape but the girls were allegedly beaten during captivity. The DSP told that they have also lodged an FIR nominating nine persons with names besides around two dozen unknown under sections 364 and 365 of Pakistan Penal Code and 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
Around 40 to 50 men armed with weapons 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 of Manganhar community were also beaten in that incident.
Ali Nawaz Manganhar, who sustained injuries, told the media that Marris wanted to pressurise the man who had married a woman from their family without their consent. Marris accused Manganhars for assisting the man with whom their woman ‘eloped’.
Manganhars were also arrested and booked in an FIR of kidnapping but it was later proven that it was a case of free-will marriage. The SHO Ghazi Khan Rajar acknowledged that the police took a day to recover the girls because the accused persons were changing places.
Kidnapping of girls and women and honour killings have suddenly become a daily occurrence in Sindh as the police are seen to be gearing into action only when an incident becomes high-profile news. The burning of an entire village in Jacobabad district on May 5, whose FIR was lodged after 10 days, is a recent example of the inaction.
