Police on Thursday filed the final charge sheet in the Dua Zehra case before a judicial magistrate, recommending the quashing of the abduction and forced marriage FIR against her spouse Zaheer Ahmed and other suspects under ‘C’ class.
Anti-Violent Crime Cell DSP Shaukat Shahani, the investigating officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet stating that on June 6, Dua and Zaheer were produced before the Sindh High Court (SHC).
Before the SHC, the girl recorded her statement saying that she had not been kidnapped by any person and had gone to Punjab on her own. Being sui juris (of age, or independent), she said she married Zaheer of her own free will.
Shahani said the girl’s age had been determined on the directives of the SHC, and according to a medico-legal officer’s report, she was about 16 to 17 years old.
Subsequently, the court allowed Dua to decide whom she wanted to live with because she had already recorded her statement before the Lahore Model Town judicial magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), denying her alleged abduction and claiming to have contracted free-will marriage.
In view of the investigation thus far carried out into the case, as well as the girl’s statement and the confirmation of her age, the IO concluded that no offence of abducting an underage person as defined under Section 364-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) had been committed.
Since the alleged marriage took place in Lahore, and since every province has its own traditions and laws governing the minimum age limit to get married, he said that sections 3 and 4 of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act 2013 do not also apply to the suspects.
Shahani said Hafiz Ghulam Mustafa, who solemnised the girl’s marriage, and Asghar Ali, one of the two witnesses of the marriage, are in judicial custody. He added that 10 more suspects who were taken into custody for allegedly facilitating Dua’s kidnapping were discharged and set free under Section 63 of the CrPC at the previous hearing.
He said the Nikah Khuwan (marriage officiator) and witness were also found to be innocent, so keeping them behind bars was against the principles of justice. He recommended that the court order their release as well. He also requested the magistrate to accept the ‘C’ class charge sheet and quash the case. In the case of ‘C’ class, an FIR can be disposed of as being a non-cognisable offence.
Judicial Magistrate (East) Aftab Ahmed Bughio extended the judicial remand of both suspects until June 20, when it would likely decide the fate of the charge sheet. Human rights activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir filed his Vakalatnama (power of attorney) on behalf of Dua’s father, who is the complainant of the case.
The Al-Falah police had lodged an FIR on the complaint of Syed Mehdi Ali Kazmi under Section 364-A of the PPC, read with Section 3 (punishment for male contracting party) and Section 4 (punishment for parents or guardian concerned in a child marriage) of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act 2013.
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