Summary The Act had classified the offence as cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable.
KARACHI (Dunya News/Agencies) - The Sindh Assembly on Monday passed the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013, declaring marriage below the age of 18 punishable by law.
The assembly is the first provincial legislature in the country to approve a bill to curb child marriages.
According to the bill, anyone who violates the rule and marries someone under 18 will be sentenced for 3 years in jail and can be fined with Rs45,000.
The bill was presented in the assembly last year by Sindh Minister for Culture Sharmila Farooqi as well as provincial minister Rubina Saadat Qaimkhani.
Both of them were part of an eight-member committee which was tasked on August 1 with preparing drafts in consultation with the stakeholders. The legislation cover child marriages, honour killings, harassment of women and acid attacks.
Farooqi submitted her version, titled Child Marriages Prohibition Act, 2013, of the draft in the Sindh Assembly on August 20.
Qaimkhani’s draft, titled The Child Marriages Eradication Act, had been scrutinised by the law and women development ministries. She had said that she has re-drafted the bill tabled in 2011 by former women development minister, Tauqir Fatima Bhutto.
The Child Marriages Prohibition Act had classified the offence as cognizable, non-bailable and non-compoundable. The Child Marriages Eradication Act, however, had held it only as a cognizable offence.
