Man booked for kidnapping teenage girl denied bail

A court has dismissed the bail application of a man in a case pertaining to alleged abduction of a teenage girl from Karachi.

Azhar Ali was booked for allegedly kidnapping a 15-year-old girl from Karachi's Gulshan-e-Iqbal and trafficking her to Naushehro Feroze last month.

He moved an application before Judicial Magistrate (East) Gul Zamir Solangi through his lawyer seeking post-arrest bail.

After hearing arguments from both sides and perusing the case record, the magistrate rejected the bail plea of the man.

The applicant's lawyer contended that the girl in her statements had clearly disclosed that she went with the suspect to Naushehro Feroze and contracted marriage with him of her own freewill, due to which no offence under the Section 365-B (kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel for marriage etc.) of the Pakistan Penal Code could be made out against his client. He requested the court to grant him bail.

Advocate Daniyal Muhammad Hussain, who appeared on behalf of the complainant, argued that the girl was aged 15 to 16 years as per her birth certificate issued by the National Database & Registration Authority and an age certificate issued by the police surgeon after her recovery.

He said the girl was recovered from the suspect’s custody who claimed that she had accompanied him of her own free will. However, he added that this claim held no significance given that the girl was a minor.

The state prosecutor contended that the case was at the initial stage and an interim challan had not been submitted yet, requesting the court to dismiss the bail plea.

In his written order, the magistrate noted that the girl in her statement under the Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure disclosed her age to be 18 years but as per her ossification test, her age was between 15 and 16 years.

"The learned counsel for the complainant during his arguments has also placed on record various documents with his statement regarding the age of alleged abductee, which clearly shows that the alleged abductee is aged about between 15-16 years only, which all shows that there is sufficient evidence available on the record to connect the applicant/accused with the alleged offence, which is also a heinous crime," he observed.

"Under these circumstances and in view of the aforesaid reasons I am of the humble view that no case for grant of post-arrest bail has been made out in the favour of applicant/ accused at this stage and as such the bail of applicant/accused is hereby rejected having no merits," ruled the magistrate.