The Sindh High Court (SHC) directed the police to protect a woman and her daughter against harassment by influential men of Khairpur Nathan Shah in District Dadu.

Najma Gulzar said in her petition that the private respondents were forcing her to marry her 22-year-old daughter Fauzia to eight-year-old Imtiaz Ali Khoso. She said she and her husband denied the proposal several times but the private respondents started threatening her and her family.

The petitioner said she approached the local police for protection for herself and her family but they refused due to the influence and political backing of the private respondents.

She said her family had to leave Khairpur Nathan Shah and move to Karachi due to the constant harassment of the private respondents, who threatened to get her husband booked in a false criminal case. She also said she had imminent apprehension that the private respondents would either kidnap her daughter or implicate her husband in a false case. She requested the court to direct the police to provide them protection against harassment and restrain them from registering a false case against her family.

After the petition’s preliminary hearing, a single SHC bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar issued notices to the Sindh advocate general and the Khairpur Nathan Shah police for filing their comments.

The court also directed the police authorities concerned to protect the petitioner and her daughter until the next date of hearing.

Free-will marriage

In another case, the high court directed the police to not take any coercive action against a couple who had married of their own free will. Petitioner Fozia said she had married Fida Hussain against the wishes of her family, who declared the couple Karo-Kari at a tribal Jirga.

She said her uncle also registered a criminal case against her husband even though she had married of her own free will and had not been kidnapped by anyone. She requested the court to protect the couple and the family of her husband as well as restrain the police from arresting them in any case about her kidnapping.

The court issued notices to the Sindh advocate general and the Wagan police of District Qambar to file their comments. The court also restrained the police from taking any coercive action against the petitioner and her husband, directing the police to protect the couple.

Source:  The News