Daily Times

The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday granted protective bail to Zaheer Ahmad, husband of Dua Zahra, who had gone missing from her Karachi residence in April but was later found to have married Zaheer Ahmed in Lahore, till July 14 and stopped police from arresting him.

The single bench comprising Justice Aalia Neeluim passed the orders on a petition filed by Zaheer Ahmad for the relief of protective bail. During the proceedings, Justice Aalia questioned Zaheer Ahmad’s counsel as to when the FIR was registered.

He submitted the FIR of kidnapping was registered on April 16. At this, the judge questioned what were you doing so far, how did you come to know that police wanted to arrest the petitioner, she added.

The counsel submitted that in a statement, the investigation officer had said that the matter was being re-investigated. He submitted that it was feared that the police might arrest his client. He pleaded with the court to grant protective bail to his client so that he could approach the court concerned for the relief of interim bail in the matter. Subsequently, the court granted protective bail to Zaheer Ahmad till July 14 and stopped police from arresting him.

Zaheer Ahmad through his petition had submitted that he solemnized marriage with Dua Zahra but it was being alleged that she (Dua Zahra) was kidnapped. He submitted that the police might arrest him in the matter while pleading for the relief of protective bail.

It is pertinent to mention here that Syed Ali Kazmi, the father of Dua Zahra, had approached the Sindh High Court again for the recovery of her daughter on the basis of a new medical board report, which determined the girl’s age to be between 15 and 16 years.