Daily Times

The father of Dua Zahra, Mehdi Kazmi, has once again filed a plea in the Sindh High Court (SHC), seeking the recovery of the teenager who had gone missing from her Karachi residence in April but was later found to have married Zaheer Ahmed in Lahore.

The petitioner has moved the court to take action against Zaheer if “rape” is proved in medical tests. This time, Mehdi has based his case on new medical tests conducted to determine Zahra’s age, which found the girl to be between 15 and 16 years.

Kazmi stated that Zaheer kidnapped Zahra, when she was exactly 13 years, 11 months and 19 days old, and he has all the documents to prove it, including her National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) birth certificate, educational certificates and passport.

He claimed that Zaheer took Zahra to Punjab to marry her and mentioned her age as 18 in the marriage contract to declare it valid. Kazmi further said in his plea that he had approached the SHC earlier as well and sought her recovery in a petition filed on May, 7, 2022, after which the police produced the couple on June 6. “The SHC allowed Zahra to go with whoever she wants to on the basis of the first round of bone ossification tests that stated her to be 17 years old,” the plea stated.

“However, the reports of recent medical tests have established that Zahra is younger than 16 years,” it added.

Kazmi requested the court to order Zahra’s recovery from the “illegal custody” of Zaheer and over to the parents.

Sindh home department, Sindh inspector general of police, Alfalah SHO, Zaheer and others have been nominated as respondents in the petition.

Dua has maintained that she is 18 years of age and claims she contracted marriage with Zaheer of her own accord, while her parents have insisted that she is a minor.

On April 16, Dua’s parents filed a first information report alleging that their daughter had been kidnapped when she left the house to dispose of some trash. The incident had provoked an outcry, especially on social media, which had prompted authorities to take notice.

After nearly 10 days, on April 26, the teenage girl was recovered from Okara. In a video statement that day, Dua had said that she wasn’t kidnapped and had married Zaheer of her “free will”. She had said that she had left her house of her own accord.

Subsequently, she and Zaheer approached a Lahore district and sessions court and filed a petition against Dua’s father and cousin.

Meanwhile, the police had also filed a plea in court demanding that Dua be sent to Darul Aman. However, the magistrate rejected the request and allowed the teenager “to go wherever she wanted to”.

On the other hand, Dua’s parents were adamant that their daughter had been kidnapped and said that she had been forced to give the statement.

The teenager’s father had also approached the SHC in May with a plea against the Punjab court’s orders. On June 6, the SHC had ordered an ossification to determine Dua’s age. She was also sent to a shelter home for the time being after she refused to meet her parents.

Two days later, the court ruled that the teenager was at liberty to decide who she wanted to live with.

Later, Kazmi challenged the verdict in the SC, which had in turn asked him approach the relevant forums for the constitution of a medical board. Subsequently, a judicial magistrate in Karachi had ordered the constitution of another board to determine Dua’s age. On Monday, the medical board had concluded that Dua was between 15 to 16 years of age.