Cases of parents forcing their children to make a life-changing decision is an issue that is still unfortunately prevalent. One could even end up losing their life after being in such a situation, just like an unfortunate young woman from Australia, whose mother forced her to marry.
As per a report of The Guardian, 48-year-old Sakina Muhammad Jan became the first person in Australia to be sentenced for forcing a marriage. She was sent to prison under the forced marriage law of the country.
Sakina forced her 21-year-old daughter to marry, which resulted in her brutal murder. According to reports, Ruqia Haidari was forced to marry Mohammad Ali Halimi, a 26-year-old man for a small sum, in 2019. Only six weeks after the wedding, Ruqia was murdered by her husband, who later received life imprisonment for the crime. The crime took place in January 2020.
During the trial, Jan had pleaded not guilty to the offence, denying that her daughter ever mentioned not wanting to marry Halimi. The woman seemed to be grief-stricken over her child’s death but maintained her innocence. More reports state the prosecution argued that Jan came under societal pressure, leading her to forcibly marry her daughter.
The woman was sentenced to three years in prison, according to the law, on Monday. The country’s forced marriage law was introduced in 2013, according to which the offender could be sentenced to seven years in prison. Before announcing Jan’s verdict, the judge stated that she put “intolerable pressure” on her daughter.
Jan is an Afghan Hazara refugee, who migrated to Victoria in 2013 with her five children, fleeing the Taliban persecution. Ruqia was her youngest child who was first forced into a marriage at 15, which ended in divorce five years later when she turned 20. As per reports, Ruqia had no desire to marry again till the age of 27 or 28. She wanted to continue her education and build a career.
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