Buner police on Saturday foiled a swara bid wherein a minor girl was to be married to a man in order to settle a longstanding dispute between two families.
District Police Officer (DPO) Muhammad Irshad Khan told DawnNewsTV that police, after receiving a tip-off, raided a location in Banda Tangi village in the limits of the Nagri police station where the nikkah of a four-year-old girl was underway with a man.
The minor was recovered and 13 people from both families were arrested, including the would-be groom, police said.
The DPO said that a local jirga had decided the minor should be married off in swara to settle the dispute between two families.
Police registered a First Information Report against the arrested suspects under sections 301A of the Pakistan Penal Code (which prescribes three to seven years in jail and a fine of Rs500,000 for "whoever gives a female in marriage or otherwise compels her to enter into marriage, as badal-i-sulh, wanni or swara or any other custom or practice under any name, in consideration of settling a civil dispute or a criminal liability") and 39 of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection Act 2010 (which recommends imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or fine which may extend to Rs100,000, or both, as punishment for harmful and abusive practices).
The DPO said that the girl is safe and in police protection, and that the case is being further investigated.
