DERA GHAZI KHAN: Police on Thursday stopped a `child marriage` ceremony on the information provided by the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CP&WB) at Rsanjhaywala village.

Sadar police received a call from Multan CP&WB informing them that a child marriage was being held at the village near Khan Chowk on the Indus Highway in which a 12-year-old girl Reema Bibi was to be married to Abid (40).

Following the call, a police team raided the ceremony and took the bride into custody to produce her before a duty magistrate. Sources said it was third marriage of Abid.

Station House Officer Rana Iqbal told Dawn that the girl was produced before the magistrate who declared Reema Bibi an adult and handed her over to her parents. Nikah of the girl and the man had been solemnised a week earlier, he added.