Couple arrested on elopement charges

MANSEHRA: The police on Saturday arrested a couple who had eloped and got married in the Paras area of the district last month.

The police arrested the couple from a local bazaar while shopping and brought them to the police station under tight security.

They were then presented before the civil judge/local magistrate, who, after recording their statements, sent the woman to Darul Aman in Abbottabad and remanded the man to judicial custody.

The girl’s father had lodged a first information report (FIR) at the Paras Police Station on March 30, alleging that Toufeeq Yusuf, along with several family members, including women, had lured and kidnapped his daughter at night when his family was asleep.

According to the FIR, the woman’s family had solemnised her Nikah with another man in May 2023.

The police registered the case under Sections 365-B and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Paras Police Station.

District Police Officer Shafiullah Khan Gandapur said the girl would be produced before a local court in Balakot to record her statement under Section 164 of the CrPC.

“Although the local magistrate has sent her to Darul Aman for security concerns, the law will take its due course after she records her statement before the judicial magistrate,” he said.