However, the father of the girl may give consent to her marriage if she is as young as 15.
Advertisement
Afghan authorities arrested a 60-year-old Muslim cleric for marrying a young girl of only 6 years old in a village in the Ghor province. Mohammad Karim claims he married the child as a “religious offering”, adding that the parents of the girl were fully aware of their marriage.
Police officials have said the girl’s family accused the cleric of abducting their child a month ago from Obah in Herat. However the rescued girl has a different opinion saying: “I am afraid of this man”.
“We spoke to her parents and they strongly deny they attended the wedding”, Mohammad Zeman Azami said.
Parents deny claims, say the child was kidnapped.
“The family of the girl rejected the claims that they married; the family said that the girl had been lost, the victim’s father and mother are now on their way to Ghor and we hope that they arrive soon so that the police can get to the bottom of the issue”, a police official said.
Karim said, “The girl was given to me as a gift and we were married so I could raise her…”
Investigators have said that the child has not been physically harmed.
As per media reports, “This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: “I am afraid of this man”,” said Masoom Anwari, head of the women affairs department in Ghor.
Child marriages are on the increase in Afghanistan, according to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC).
Afghan civil law sets the legal age of marriage at 16 for girls, yet 15 percent of Afghan women under 50 were married before their 15th birthday and nearly half were married before the age of 18, according to Save the Children.
Advertisement
“So many children who are married off at a young age are deprived of their right to education, safety and the ability to make choices about their future”, the worldwide charity said this month. The girl is now in the custody of the women’s shelter in Ghor.
