A court in Lahore ruled that Dua Zehra – the girl who mysteriously went missing from Karachi around 10 days back and was found on Tuesday – was free to go wherever she wants.
Lahore Model Town Court’s Judicial Magistrate Tasawar Iqbal rejected the police request to shift the girl to Darul Aman after she was presented before the court hours after her video statement came to light.
Before announcing the verdict, the judge sent her husband, Zaheer, outside the courtroom to record her statement. Dua told the judge that she was 18 years of age, came from Karachi to Lahore willingly, no one had kidnapped her, and she did not want to go to Darul Aman. “I am safe, my life is not in danger,” Dua told the judge. Following this, the judge ordered that she be allowed to go “wherever she wants”, and the police let the couple go free.
Dua had earlier filed a case against her father Mehdi Ali Kazmi and a cousin, Zainul Abideen, in a Lahore court. Despite the case being filed in Lahore, the police have claimed they found the couple from Pakpattan.
The Punjab police spokesperson had also said that the Karachi police were informed of every development in the case, and all possible coordination was being made.
Meanwhile, in her case, Dua had accused Kazmi of barging into her house in Lahore and trying to kidnap her with the help of her cousin. “My father wanted to force me to marry my cousin Zainul Abideen. My father and Abideen storm into my house and verbally abused and threatened me and my husband,” Dua said in her complaint. She said that her neighbours foiled the kidnapping bid.
Dua also said that she has married of her own free will, and she is “living a happy life with my husband”.
Maintaining that she wants to stay with her husband, Dua demanded action against Kazmi and Abideen under the code of criminal procedure. The magistrate’s court took up Dua’s case and summoned her with evidence against her father on May 18. Moreover, Dua also filed a separate petition against harassment at a district and sessions court.
Meanwhile, a video message of Dua has also surfaced in which she says she was not kidnapped and left home herself and married Zaheer Ahmed. She said her family was forcing her to marry someone else. The couple were reportedly staying at Zaheer’s uncle’s home.
