ஆஸ்திரேலியாவில் தனது 12 வயது மகளுக்கு இஸ்லாமிய முறைப்படி திருமணம் செய்து வைத்த தந்தை ஒருவருக்கு எட்டு வருட கால சிறைத் தண்டனை விதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
திருமணத்துக்கு வெளியில் பாலியல் உறவு கொள்ளக்கூடிய பாவத்தை தனது மகள் செய்வதைத் தான் விரும்பவில்லை எனக் கூறி, தனது மகளை 26 வயது லெபனான் இளைஞன் ஒருவருக்கு மணம் முடித்துவைக்க தான் முன்வந்ததாக அந்த அறுபத்து மூன்று வயது தந்தை தெரிவித்திருந்தார்.
வயது வராத பெண் ஒருவரை சட்டவிரோத பாலியல் உறவுக்குத் தள்ளினார் என கடந்த ஏப்ரல் மாதம் அவர் குற்றங்காணப்பட்டிருந்தார்.
சிறுமியை பாலியல் துஷ்பிரயோகம் செய்ததாக குற்றங்காணப்பட்டு கணவருக்கு ஏழரை ஆண்டுகால சிறைத்தண்டனை இவ்வாண்டில் முன்னதாக விதிக்கப்பட்டிருந்தது.
தற்போது அச்சிறுமி அதிகாரிகளின் பராமரிப்பில் இருந்துவருகிறார்.
Man jailed after marrying 12-year-old girl in Islamic ceremony
Child bride in Australia: A 27-year-old man who married and impregnated a 12-year-old girl in an Islamic ceremony arranged by the girl’s father has been sentenced to a maximum of 10 years and a minimum of seven-and-a-half years in jail.
The man, who must remain unidentified due to Australian law, was a Lebanese student who met the girl at a Mosque in November 2013 after approaching the girl’s father and asking for an introduction.
According to reports, the pair subsequently “married” in an Islamic ceremony performed under sharia law in the girl’s living room in the Hunter region of Australia last January.
In court, the defense argued the defendant believed a Muslim girl could marry once she reached puberty. However, prosecutors pointed out the groom was warned by two different imams that marrying a 12-year-old girl was illegal under Australian law.
The defense also argued that the girl was mature, sophisticated, and intelligent for her age, and gave her “consent” to the marriage.
However, the presiding judge said:
She may be intelligent for a 12-year-old girl but she was still a 12-year-old girl.
The girl’s father allegedly arranged the illegal marriage of his daughter to the Lebanese immigrant because he wanted to stop her from “committing a life of sin.”
The father is scheduled to face trial later this year, and is charged with procuring a child under 14 for unlawful sexual activities, and being an accessory before the fact to sexual intercourse with a person under 14.
The girl, who also cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered an ectopic pregnancy – where the fertilised egg implants outside the uterus – and miscarried. She is now under the care of state authorities.
The imam who performed the ceremony, Iranian cleric Sheikh Muhammad Tasawar, pleaded guilty to solemnising the marriage and was fined $500.
Despite the obvious immorality of child marriage, the practice continues to be legal in some Muslim dominated countries, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Many conservative Muslims defend the practice of child marriage because Mohammed, Islam’s role model, married Aisha when she was only six or seven, and “consummated” the marriage when she was nine.
