KARACHI: A judicial magistrate in Karachi (East) Monday rejected the request of the investigation officer (IO) to conduct a medical examination of Dua Zahra Kazmi, a teenage girl from the provincial metropolis who has previously said she left home and eloped of her own choice but whose parents say she was abducted.
The parents of Kazmi, who had gone missing from her home in Karachi on April 16, say she is underage and was “kidnapped,” but the girl told a Sindh High Court (SHC) judge last month she had married Zaheer Ahmed, 21, of her “free will.”
However, on July 18, the Karachi police informed a sessions court that 24 persons had been involved in abducting Kazmi from Karachi and solemnising her illegal child marriage in Punjab.
At the time of her disappearance, Kazmi resided with her family in Sindh where the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 prohibits the marriage of a child under the age of 18 and provides penalties for a male contracting party, the person who solemnises the marriage as well as the parent or guardian concerned.
But in Punjab, where Kazmi married Ahmed, the legal age of marriage is 16.
The investigation officer sought time from the magistrate for the submission of the interim challan in the case. At this, the magistrate directed him to submit the same by August 6.
Earlier, Ahmed, along with his brother Shabbir Ahmed appeared before the Additional District and Sessions Court in Karachi (East). The court extended their interim bail until August 17.
Previously, the court had also issued orders for the production of Kazmi as well.
It had also reserved the judgement on the request for the medical examination of Kazmi which it pronounced on Monday.
