Three Peshawar men arrested for announcing wedding date without woman’s consent

• Three men booked under Ghag Act in Peshawar
• Ghag is an old customary practice where a man forcibly demands or claims the hand of a woman without her or her parent’s permission by making an open declaration
• Those convicted under the law can face punishment for up to seven years

PESHAWAR: The police arrested three men in Peshawar for setting the wedding date and sending out invitation cards for a woman without her consent.

The men have been booked under Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Ghag Act, 2013, which outlawed the inhumane practice of “ghag”, where a man forcibly demands or claims the hand of a woman without her or her parent’s permission by making an open declaration.

Those convicted under the law can face punishment for up to seven years.

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On Tuesday, the Hayatabad police registered a first information report on the request of a man named, Gul Wali.

Wali said that his son, Humayun, was recently divorced. After the marriage ended, Wali was under pressure from his son’s ex-wife’s family to marry her to his second son.

Upon refusal, Wali told the police that the ex-wife’s brother then fixed a date of marriage with Wali’s daughter instead, without asking her or her parents for permission.

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The distribution of wedding cards, Wali adds, had caused him and his family humiliation in society.

After the registration of the FIR, the police arrested three suspects.