KARACHI: A judicial magistrate here in Karachi on Saturday ordered the formation of a medical board to ascertain the age of free-will marriage girl Dua Zehra.
During the hearing of the case, the petitioner’s lawyer said that as per her husband, Zaheer, she had been in contact with him for the past three years and gone to him herself.
The court said that the health secretary should be written a letter seeking the formation of a medical board to determine her age. “Bring the girl here [to Karachi] or have her medical conducted there [Lahore]; that is the prosecution’s concern,” the judge added.
The investigation officer apprised the court that the police conducted its investigation as per the law. The judge said the court only wanted to determine the age of the girl and that it was not a “C-class” case.
IO Shaukat Shahani said the police cannot book Zaheer for kidnapping after statement made by Dua. “We investigated the case from all angles and the girl married him out of her free will,” DSP Shahani informed. The police will further proceed after going through the copy of the Supreme Court’s order, he added.
Earlier this week, the Supreme Court had disposed of a petition of Dua’s father, challenging the ruling of the Sindh High Court (SHC) which said that Dua was free to decide who she wanted to live with.
