Free-will marriage case: Authorities get two weeks to recover young woman
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday granted two-week time to the authorities to recover an 18-year-old girl, who wanted to marry a man of her choice without the consent of her parents.
A division bench comprising Justices Amir Hani Muslim and Syed Hassan Azhar Rizvi was seized with the hearing of a petition converted from a report filed by the Sanghar District Police Officer regarding the victim, Salma, daughter of Shah Nawaz Brudi.
The DPO submitted that the young woman had approached the Tando Adam police station on Dec 18 to seek protection from her parents as she wanted to marry Ahsan Nizamani without their consent.
He stated that the SHO concerned produced the woman before the judicial magistrate, Tando Adam, who recorded her statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
The DPO submitted that Ms Salma was sent to Darul Aman, Hyderabad, by the judicial magistrate when she refused to live with her parents.
He said that magistrate directed the SHO to produce her in court along with her academic certificates on Dec 19.
The police official said that later the SHO informed the court that the educational certificate of Ms Salma could not be retrieved.
In the meanwhile, he said, the woman’s parents moved an application for her custody before Judicial Magistrate Inayatullah Kundhari, who was holding the charge of judicial magistrate, Tando Adam, who was on leave.
The DPO stated that the magistrate handed over Salma to her parents on the basis of the education certificates despite the fact she had death threats from her family that belonged to Burdi community of Balochistan having background of killings in the name of honour.
He said that he then moved to the district and session judge, Sanghar, against JM Kundhari and the court later appointed additional district and sessions judge, Sanghar, to hold an inquiry.
The DPO stated that the ADJ summoned Shah Nawaz and the official in charge of Darul Aman to produce Salma, but they did not complied with the order so far.
He stated that no action taken against the JM concerned so far despite a lapse of three months.
Earlier on June 24, the SHC had directed the DPO to make maximum efforts and take whatever action was required to procure the woman and produce her on the next date.
On Monday, the additional advocate general, Shafi Muhammad Memon, sought two-week time for compliance with the court’s order.
The bench granted the government law officer’s request and put off the hearing till Sept 20.
Source: Dawn
Date:8/31/2010
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