LAYYAH: A 10-year-old girl was married off to a 17-year-old boy on Wednesday to avenge the court marriage of a couple in Darkhan locality of Karor tehsil.

Karor police have registered a case and arrested nikah khwan Hafiz Atique Usmani, witness Bilal Ahmed and a panchayat member Jehangir.

Last week, girl `R` of Darkhan had contracted court marriage with `U` of Daphi locality. Afzal, father of the girl, asked for a panchayat. Councillor Ghulam Husain called a panchayat at the outhouse of landlord Muhammad Asif. The local jury arranged marriage of 10-year-old sister of `U` with 17-year-old brother of the girl `R`.

Police have registered a case under section 292, 310a, 506 of PPC against nikah khwan Atique, councillor Ghulam Husain, landlord Asif and five others.

Investigation Officer SI Faiz Muhammad told Dawn that police had arrested the nikah khwan, witness Bilal Ahmed and panchayat member Jehangir.

The `vani` girl, `S`, appeared in the court of local magistrate and recorded her statement under section 164. She told the court that she contracted marriage on her free will and police were allegedly harassing her family.

SI Faiz said landlord Asif and councillor Ghulam Husain had got pre-arrest bail from the court while raids were on for the arrest of others.