The Sindh High Court (SHC) has instructed the authorities to present Dua Zehra, an alleged victim of kidnapping and underage marriage, before the court.
Super Superintendent of Police (SSP) East and the station house officer (SHO) Al-falah were given these orders by a three-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro, who had heard the petition of Dua Zehra’s father, Mehdi Ali Kazmi, seeking his daughter’s recovery.
Dua’s father had requested that the involved authorities should be ordered to retrieve Dua and present her in court, where the teen and her family should be given protection.
The petition also said that she should be recovered from her husband Zaheer Ahmed, and her marriage with him should be declared invalid and illegal.
Kazmi also claimed that he found out through social media and the news that his daughter had married Zaheer Ahmed, saying that at the time of the marriage she was only 14 years old. NADRA records reveal that is 13.
He also expressed vexation at the fact that the challan for the case had not yet been submitted to the judicial magistrate, by the investigating officer.
The SHC sent out notices to the prosecutor general Sindh and others, in addition to ordering the SSP, SHO and the investigating orders to procure Dua and bring her in front of the court at the next hearing.
Previously, the SHC had sent notices to the Home Department, IG Sindh, SSP Sharqi, SHO Al-Falah Police Station and Dua Zehra’s husband Zaheer Ahmed on her father’s petition regarding the teenager’s alleged abduction and early marriage.
According to Dua Zehra’s own personal statement, she had left her home of her own free will and had not been forced to marry Zaheer Ahmed. She also said her life was in danger if she went back to Karachi.
