A court in Pakistan’s conservative Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has sentenced a man (name withheld) to life imprisonment for raping and kidnapping his underage wife, the victim’s lawyer said on Monday.

“This is the first decision of its kind in the province,” the lawyer, Mian Safeer, said.

A court that deals with cases of gender-based violence in the north-western region of the country announced the decision.

The lawyer added that the court’s decision was an important step towards strengthening women’s rights in the country.

The victim was still living in her parent’s house, as the marriage ceremony had only been performed spiritually at the time of the offence but not as a civil ceremony.

According to the lawyer, the man had kidnapped the underage young girl, kept her in his house for several days after the abduction, and raped her.

The lawyer said the man was sentenced to life imprisonment for both rape and abduction and was additionally fined.

Violence against women is a recurring problem in Pakistan.

It is a society often characterised by patriarchal norms and has a population of more than 240 million.

Marital rape has been an official criminal offence in the South Asian country since 2021.

The first conviction of marital rape was reported in January when a court sentenced a man to three years in prison.

Underage marriage, often arranged by guardians and rooted in long-standing cultural and societal traditions, is common in Pakistan.

(dpa/NAN)