Daily Times

On Saturday, a local court ordered the formation of a medical board to determine the age of Karachi’s teenage girl Dua Zehra.

In the hearing of the alleged kidnapping of Dua Zehra, the Judicial Magistrate-East ordered further investigation of the case and the formation of a medical board to determine the girl’s age.

Today, the counsel for the complainant in the case and the investigative officer appeared in court.

The challan is based on two things, according to the complainant’s counsel: the girl’s age, and her statement.

“In Supreme Court, we appealed for the girl’s placement in a shelter home and the formation of a medical board,” the lawyer explained.

The aped court’s order was read aloud by the lawyer. “We have submitted an application to the secretary of health for the determination of the girl’s age,” he added.

“The Supreme Court has stated in its observation that the high court’s remark with regard to determining her age was not an impediment,” the counsel argued.

“The case has been classified as ‘C-Class,’ with her age declared to be 17 years,” the lawyer claimed. “How can a case be approved as ‘C-Class’ without a medical board?” “What will become of the Supreme Court’s order?” he wondered.

“I want to read accused Zaheer’s statement to the police. Accused has not been yet arrested,” counsel said. “Zaheer, in his statement to the police said that he had a friendship with Dua Zehra for three years”. “I paid the taxi’s 22,000 rupees fare, when Dua Zehra reach Lahore on April 17,” quoting statement of accused, counsel said.

The court ordered an additional investigation of the matter as well as the formation of a medical board to determine the girl’s age.

In an earlier hearing, the investigating officer (IO) had submitted a challan before the judicial magistrate, requesting that the court dismiss the FIR in the Zehra case after classifying it as “C class.”

The IO said in the charge sheet that Dua Zehra travelled from Karachi to Punjab on her own accord and married Zaheer Ahmed. He stated that no evidence of abduction was discovered because the medical report showed Dua Zehra’s age to be between 16 and 17 years old.

The IO dropped Section 216 and the Child Marriage Act charges against the accused in the teenage girl kidnapping case. The challan also pronounced Asghar and Ghulam Mustafa, the accused arrested in the Zehra case, to be innocent.