Another case of alleged abduction and child marriage of a teenage girl has landed in a Karachi court. Judicial Magistrate (East) Aftab Ahmed Bughio has ordered police to recover the 14-year-old girl, who was allegedly abducted from her residence in the Korangi area and lured into illegal underage marriage last month.
“Apparently the age of victim is under fourteen years. This is prima facie a case of the Child Marriage Restraint Act,” the magistrate observed and directed the senior superintendent of police (SSP) Investigation, Korangi District, East Zone, on Wednesday to recover the victim and produce her before the court.
He instructed that in case she is recovered in the night hours or on a holiday, her custody be handed over to a child protection centre until her production before the court. He passed this order while hearing an application filed by the girl’s father seeking directives for the investigating officer to recover and produce her before the court.
Advocate Jibran Nasir, the counsel for the applicant, stated that the minor was allegedly kidnapped by a neighbour, and named Ali Javed, with the help of two other persons from her residence in Korangi on July 28.
Two days later, he added, the IO received her Nikahnama (marriage contract) through WhatsApp, according to which she and Javaid solemnised a freewill marriage soon after her abduction.
He said the Nikahnama maliciously showed the girl to be 18 years old and concealed her actual age. As per her birth certificate, Nadra B-Form, and school record, she is 14 years of age. The counsel argued that the investigating officer, despite being aware of the fact that she was a victim of abduction, age specific sexual abuses, and child marriage under the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013, has failed to recover and protect her and add the relevant section of the act in the case.
He pleaded with the court to issue directives for the recovery of the victim, who is allegedly in the illegal confinement of accused Ali Javed. He further demanded that her medical examination be conducted forthwith as there was a possibility of the victim having been subjected to rape and sexual violence.
An FIR was registered on the complaint of the girl’s father at the Korangi police station under sections 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of fourteen), 369 (Kidnapping or abducting child), and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with section 3 of the Prevention of Trafficking in Person Act, 2018.
Source: The News
