Underage marriage case: SHC grants interim custody of girl to parents

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday granted interim custody of a teenaged girl, who had gone missing from her home in Malir Karachi and found to have married Zaheer Ahmed, a resident of Okara, to her parents.

The order came on the application filed by Syed Mehdi Ali, father of the girl, for her custody, who was residing at a shelter home following registration of kidnapping and underage marriage case against Zaheer Ahmed by the Karachi police.

According to the police, Ahmed kidnapped the underage girl from the Al-Falah Colony area with the connivance of other co-accused and married her in Lahore.

On Friday, the girl was produced before the court by the child protection officer, where she gave her consent to live with her parents who were also present in the courtroom.

However, the counsel of the girl’s spouse raised objection over the maintainability of the petition submitting that an application for permanent custody of the girl was already pending in the trial court. He added that the trial court had already rejected the petitioner’s application for interim custody as well as the appeal against such order.

The SHC’s division bench, headed by Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro, observed that the permanent custody of the girl was not being determined and only as an interim measure, her desire and will was being ascertained.

The court observed that the objection raised by the respondent counsel was not sustainable under the law, adding that the girl had made a categorical and specific statement and expressed her willingness and desire to live with her parents.

The court ordered to hand over the interim custody of the girl to her parents who had given an undertaking to provide her all comforts as well as safety and security. In addition, the court also instructed the parents to furnish a bond to the sum of Rs1 million.

The court had made clear that the interim order was subjected to the final decision to be made by the Guardian and Ward Court, Karachi, where the relevant application for permanent custody of child is pending.

The court observed that the court order will not affect either any other miscellaneous questions and their solution to be raised by either party before the family court. To ensure the well-being of the girl, the court further ordered for a visit of a child protection officer at her parents’ home every Saturday along with a lady police officer not below the rank of inspector and instructed the officer to submit the report regularly before the family court.