Cops told to respect sanctity of freewill marriages

Court directs law enforcers to first ascertain that a marriage has been contracted before acting on complaints against a freewill marriage couple

Before acting upon a complaint, the police are supposed to ascertain whether a couple has contracted freewill marriage. If they have, the police officials should keep aside all social considerations and not disrupt or interfere in the couple’s marital life.

This was observed by a division bench of the SHC, headed by Justice Syed Mohammad Farooq Shah, on Wednesday, on a couple’s petition who had married against the wishes of the woman’s family.

Quashing the registration of the FIR, the court directed the police to provide protection to the couple and make sure nobody harassed them.

The directives came on Arfa’s petition against registration of a false kidnapping case against her in-laws.

The SHC directed the police to provide protection to the couple who married against the wishes of the woman’s family and ensure they were not harassed in the future.

The woman submitted that she married Sajid Ali out of her free will but her family did not approve of it and had a case registered against her in-laws in Kandhkot.

The court after recording the woman’s statement observed that the police force represented the state and it is the institution’s duty to protect the dictates of the country’s constitution and not in its negation. 

SHC division bench further observed that in this particular case the woman denied being abducted and wanted to live with her spouse, trial proceedings and in such a case tantamount to nothing but the abuse of judicial process.

In the previous hearing, the SHC citing articles 35 and 9 of the constitution, had declared that the State was duty-bound to protect couples who contracted marriages out of free will.

Forcible separation of spouses, the court observed, was the worst kind of violation of a couple’s fundamental rights.

Illegal detentions

Notices were issued to the provincial and federal law officers by the SHC during the hearing of illegal detention petitions, including of the former Lyari Town Nazim, allegedly by law enforcement agencies personnel.

Petitioner Nazia Bibi, Anwar Ali, Shahid Khan, Shazia Furrukh and Najma Begum submitted in their petitions that the LEAs picked up Abdul Rauf, his brother Haris and nephew Anas, from Gizri, while Munawar Ali, Nadeem Khan and Furrukh Javed were taken from Malir, Orangi Town and Nazimabad areas.

Nazia Bibi submitted that her spouse Abdul Rauf was a former Nazim of Lyari’s union council, she said Rauf went missing along with his brother and nephew on January 12. The court was informed that the police was not disclosing whereabouts of either of the detainees and that their families feared for the lives of their loved ones.

The SHC’s division bench headed by Justice Syed Mohammad Farooq Shah directed the law officers to file their respective comments on the petition and submit a report regarding the progress made for the detainees’ recovery.

KBA demands security for judges, lawyers 

The Karachi Bar Association's (KBA) office-bearers have demanded of the government to provide foolproof security to the courts and the lawyers of the KBA.

Condemning the Charsadda blast, the KBA officer-bearers demanded of the authorities to arrest the terrorists and their facilitators and take every measure to protect the advocates receiving threats from terrorists in the country.

In a general body meeting, they strongly condemned the blast and asked the government to take the matter of protection of lawyers seriously.