Muslim mother who forced her school age daughters into marriage jailed for 3 years

Muslim mother who forced her school-age daughters to marry their cousins is jailed for 3 years

A 'wicked and cruel' mother has been jailed for three years after forcing her two young daughters to marry their cousins in Pakistan.

The Muslim woman hoodwinked the pair, aged 14 and 15, into thinking they were going on a family holiday.

But when the schoolgirls arrived they discovered preparations were being made for them to marry their first cousins in a joint ceremony.

Yesterday, in what is being seen as a landmark case, a judge condemned the mother's actions and claimed she had been 'wholly misguided'.

She was convicted of child sex offences and attempting to pervert the course of justice as there is no current law which bans forced marriage.

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assalamu alaikum

I'm against forced marriages whatever the age may be, more so if they are young. But i'm sure these girls would have still wanted to rekindle some sort of relationship with their mother. Maybe even give her a chance to explain and attone for what she did, make her see the errors of her ways. This mother is most likely going to disown these kids completely now. If the father is present and agrees with the mother, then they will be abandoned without any parents. Since they are under 18 i guess they will be put into foster homes, and not necessarily with muslim foster parents either. So what sort of identity and values will they grow with. What good elements of their culture will they hold on to?I don't know what the solution is but i don't think imprisonment is the right answer, there seems to be far more negatives than positives by using this sort of punishment.

What about an asbo type mark against their name,and monitoring?

“O my people! Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the hereafter that is the home that will remain forever.” [Ghafir : 39]

This is one of the reasons I do not envy the position of parents. its all so hard.

According to the article, the elder of the two has already had an abortion too, so I can see what the parents were thinking... but what is wrong is wrong and trying to sort the problems out so was a little late. Cat's already out the bag...

Three years prison is a lot to think about.

Whatever happens... maybe both sides will see the wrongness of their way? (I doubt it but its a possibility)

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

assalamu alaikum,

having read the full article, i kind of think the mother in this particular case deserved imprisonment, because she had this sick demented attitude. She apparently threatened to tie her daughter to the bed,strip her, and watch till she also consumated the marriage with husband. So forcing her to get married wasn't sufficient she wanted to watch her effectively be raped? What a sick invidiual!, and a shameful excuse for a parent. She deserves to be linked with sexual offences.

Granted she had a sexual relationship out of marriage, and also an abortin two very higly sinful acts, but countering that with an equal sinful act "forced marriage" is teaching her what moral exactly? Will it reform her? No!

“O my people! Truly, this life of the world is nothing but a (quick passing) enjoyment, and verily, the hereafter that is the home that will remain forever.” [Ghafir : 39]

yup, pretty shocking, but I do wonder how much of that is myth and how much reality - the source here is the Daily Mail, hardly the bastion of good reporting.

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.

The judgement has set a strong precedent for future forced-marriages cases and I believe will significantly affect and influence the views, decisions and ultimately, actions of parents who are that way inclined. Spending time in custody is very damaging to a person's respect Wink

It will deter other mothers or fathers from thinking they'll be able to get scott free from submitting their children to such abuse and violation of human life. I am sure this is partly the reason for the harsh sentence.

The mother cannot absolve herself from blame, and needs to take some responsibility in the actions of her daughters if they went off the rails. You cannot (always) close the stable door after the horse has bolted.

May Allah shine sweet faith upon you this day and times beyond. May your heart be enriched with peace, and may your home be blessed always. Ameen.

Amal wrote:
Spending time in custody is very damaging to a person's respect Wink

Just wondering about this bit:

The court heard the defendant had acted to protect her family's reputation in the Muslim community after the elder girl became pregnant and had an abortion following a relationship with an older man.

and it specifying "man" instead of "boy"... makes me as if that "relationship" was "consentual"...

(ftr, my personal opinion is that an adult has the right to go their own way, but with such young ages, it has bigger questions as the parents have some responsibility of what their kids do, as long as they accept them as humans too.)

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.