A teacher married an under-age girl who was a student of sixth class in government school located in village Dhani Bakhsh Bhagia in Khairpur Nathan Shah, reported 4NewsHD TV channel on Friday.

According to details, Arshad Panhwar performing his duty as teacher in the government school while the girl student, named as Dua Bhagio, was underage and only 14 years old.

In Sindh, the early marriage of female children has been a common practice in line with local tribal traditions. Over the years however, despite the passage of the Child Marriages Restraint Act of 2014, under which the marriage of girls under the age of 18 was banned, underage girls continue to be yoked into matrimony way ahead of their legal age.

Apart from inveterate social norms, poverty too has emerged as an important factor behind this disturbingly regressive trend.

According to data provided by the Inspector General Police Sindh to the Sindh Home Department, 57 cases of child marriage were registered in eight districts of Sindh between 2018 and 2023, with the highest number of cases, 21, reported from Dadu.

Of all these incidents, the accused were punished in only three cases, while 20 were acquitted by the courts and no decision could be reached for the remaining cases, which were declared Class-C case

Source: 24 News HD