The mother of a 12-year-old Italian girl who betrothed her to a Pakistani man has been placed under investigation on charges of forced marriage, domestic abuse, abduction of a minor and taking her abroad, abandonment of a minor and sexual violence, Lecce prosecutors said Friday.
In tandem, minors' court prosecutors in the Puglia city are set to decide on March 3 whether to entirely strip the woman of her maternal rights, which have currently been suspended after she was placed in the care of her paternal grandparents.
The girl is the daughter of two Italians from the southern Puglia region, who got divorced before the mother married a Pakistani man in Pakistan.
The girl's father reported the case to prosecutors who got a minors' court in Lecce to suspend the mother's maternal rights.
The Italo-Pakistani couple had also forced the girl to wear an Islamic veil.
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