| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| SC orders legislation against Vani |
| 2006-04-25 |
| The Supreme Court on Monday called on the government to either introduce new legislature or amend the existing statute on the dissolution of marriages of compensation to eradicate the customs of Vanni and Swara that prevail in many rural areas of the country. Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, while heading a full bench, also ordered that cases be registered under section 310 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against panchayat members of tehsil Arifwala who had decreed two marriages of compensation, including that of a three-year-old girl as indemnity for the rape of another girl by her father. Qureshan Bibi, a resident of Arifwala, Pakpattan, was raped by the infantÂ’s father. In a letter to the chief justice, she recalled how her cousin, Aslam, had raped her at gunpoint. When the family learned of her ordeal, Aslam confessed to his crime, saying that he would marry Quresham. When he reneged on his pledge, however, a panchayat ordered that Quresham be married to AslamÂ’s younger brother as compensation. When Quresham objected to the decision, the tribal elders threatened to demolish her house. The panchayat also ruled that AslamÂ’s three-year-old daughter be married to QureshamÂ’s 14-year-old brother. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Just to be clear here. The rape victim is forced to marry to the rapist's brother. The rape victim's young brother has to marry the rapist's 3 year old child. Tha rapist gains a son-in-law and a sister-in-law for his crime. The problem might not be so much with the Vani, as with the impossibility of holding any mulsim man responsible for his crime and punishing him, and him alone, for his own acts. |
| Posted by: Thinemp Whimble2412 2006-04-25 08:57 |