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Friday, March 29, 2024

SHC Temporarily Returns a Minor Girl’s Custody to Her Parents

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Friday temporarily turned over a teenage girl to her parents in Karachi after she expressed her desire to live with them.

The girl had been reported as having been kidnapped last year but was subsequently discovered to have allegedly eloped in Punjab. The child had been living in a shelter up until today as her father, Syed Mehdi Kazmi, petitioned the court for custody of his daughter and an order to annul her supposed marriage to Zaheer Ahmed, the man who was said to have wed her in Punjab. The petition was taken up for hearing by Justice Iqbal Kalhoro today. In court with the girl, her father, and Ahmed.

The girl was initially called before the court and asked if she preferred to live with her parents. She gave a positive response. The court ordered officials to give the girl’s parents “temporary” custody of her after hearing her statement, stressing that a trial court will decide on her long-term custody. In addition, the judge mandated that a female police officer and a child protection officer visit the girl every Saturday. After each meeting, the police officer was required to submit a report to the trial court. Additionally, the judge ordered the girl’s parents to provide one million rupee surety bonds.

As the court went on, Justice Kalhoro stated that because the girl was given into the parents’ custody, they now had a big duty. The judge questioned the girl’s father, “What assurance would you give to the court that the girl will be safe?” He continued by saying that everyone wanted to stay at their parent’s place and that the girl was young and wanted to go with her parents. Ahmed’s attorney countered that the case was inadmissible because the trial court was already hearing the identical plea. The girl had to be asked if she wanted to live with her parents, and he insisted. Additionally, he requested permission from the court for Ahmed to meet the girl.

However, the court turned down the respondent’s attorney’s request. The petition was dismissed by the court after the arguments. After Kazmi “unequivocally” notified the court that she wanted to live with her parents, Kazmi’s attorney, Advocate Jibran Nasir, tweeted that “the child is finally returning home.” “This case offers numerous lessons, and measures are required to stop child marriages,” he said.

The girl’s parents reported her kidnapping on April 16, 2022, claiming that it happened after she left the house to get rid of some rubbish. The incident sparked a public outcry, particularly on social media, which alerted authorities. On April 26, the teenager recovered from Okara after over ten days. The girl had claimed in a video statement that day that she had not been abducted and had married Zaheer “of her own free will.” She also asserted that her parents had misrepresented her age. She and Zaheer then petitioned a Lahore district and sessions court on behalf of her father and cousin.

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