Missing Teen ‘Married’ to Adult Man

1 min read

RAWALPINDI: A 16-year-old girl, who had mysteriously gone missing from her home in February this year, has reportedly been married to a 25-year-old man.

Ratta Amral Police have registered a case under the Child Marriage Act, along with charges of abetment, following a complaint lodged by the girl’s mother.

According to the police, Shamim Akhtar, a resident of Milad Nagar, stated that her 16-year-old daughter went missing on February 21, 2026, allegedly taking with her Rs70,000 in cash, a gold chain, and a mobile phone.

She further claimed that a woman, Abida Bibi, contacted her a few days later and informed her that her 25-year-old son, Zahid Safeer, had enticed her daughter and contracted a marriage (nikah) with her.

The complainant also alleged that several individuals — including Shehzad, Iqra, and Zahid’s maternal uncle Khalid — made threatening phone calls from various numbers, warning that if a police report was filed, they would kill her daughter along with other children.

Police have registered a case against the accused under the Child Marriage Act and for abetment, and have initiated an investigation.

News Published in Express Tribune on March 23rd, 2026.

Previous Story

Suspected Measles Outbreak Sparks Alarm

Next Story

Parental Disputes Harming Children’s Mental Health: SHC

Latest from Blog

Why Students Cheat

On social media, a wave of videos recently exposed students using advanced gadgets to cheat in examinations. While the focus has been on policing misconduct, a deeper issue remains unexamined: students are not disengaging from education because of a lack of discipline, but because they increasingly question its value. For…

In Unsafe Hands

AN HIV outbreak among children should have been a turning point for Taunsa’s main public hospital. Instead, an investigation by the BBC suggests that little has changed. Undercover footage from the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, filmed about eight months after the government’s crackdown in March 2025, shows syringes being reused, injections administered through clothing, and unqualified…

Mpox Cases Rise to 25 as Two More Test Positive in Sindh

KARACHI: Two more patients have tested positive for mpox — one in Karachi and the other in Khairpur — on April 14, raising the provincial tally to 25 with, nine deaths this year. Sources told Dawn that all the cases are being linked to local transmission. According to a statement released by the health…
child marriage

Ending Child Marriages

THE Punjab Assembly’s committee approval of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill, 2026, is a welcome and necessary step. By setting 18 as the minimum legal age for marriage for both genders, the province moves to correct a long-standing imbalance and protect children from a practice that has scarred generations. The…

No End to Resistance to Vaccine: Minister

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Health Mustafa Kamal on April 14 said resistance against vaccines could not be mitigated despite spending tens of millions of dollars by Unicef. The minister stated this while chairing a meeting which reviewed the expenditures and measurable impact of the ongoing vaccination awareness campaigns. During a…
Go toTop