LAHORE: A court in Lahore on Tuesday allowed Dua Zehra to live with her husband.
Dua Zehra a teenager who left Karachi to marry a boy in Punjab’s capital city.
The Model Town court, while issuing verdict on police’s plea to send the girl (14-year-old according to her father’s claim and 18-year-old as per her own) to Dar-ul-Aman, rejected the police’s request and allowed Dua Zehra to live with her husband Zaheer Ahmed.
She recorded her statement before Judicial Magistrate Tasawwur Iqbal in the absence of her husband who was sent out of the courtroom.
The girl repeated her earlier statement that she left her Karachi home and married Zaheer Ahmed on her own free will and wishes to live with him.
Dua Zehra’s missing complaint was registered by her father Ali Mehdi Kazmi on April 16 but police on April 25 found a nikah nama wherein she willfully accepted Zaheer Ahmed as her husband. She was soon recovered and recorded two video statements confirming that she left her Karachi home to marry Zaheer.
Dua Zehra also accused her father of torturing her and has petitioned a court to stop him from harassing her and her husband.
Her parents, on the other hand, demanded her custody or transfer to a Dar-ul-Aman under Child Protection Bureau, and claimed that they have evidence that she is a 14-year-old and cannot be legally married under Child Marriage Restraint Act.