Arzoo case: Man, 44, sent on 3-day remand

KARACHI: A local magistrate in Karachi on Tuesday handed over a 44-year-old man to the police for three days’ physical remand over the alleged abduction, forced conversion and marriage to a minor Christian girl, Arzoo Raja.

According to Geo News, the police were directed to submit a DNA report and other evidence to the bench on the next hearing. The suspect, who police identified as Syed Azhar Ali, was arrested by the Anti-Violent Crime Cell a day earlier on a police complaint filed by the girl’s father, Raja.

During the hearing, the police presented the suspect before the magistrate. The suspect’s counsel claimed the girl, 13, had willingly wed Ali. He argued that the prosecution could neither seek arrest nor judicial remand in the case. The plaintiff’s lawyer said a DNA test would explain the case further. After hearing arguments from both sides, the magistrate reserved the verdict.

The matter came into light last week after the reports of the minor girl’s alleged kidnapping, forced conversion and marriage surfaced on social media prompting the Sindh government and civil rights activists to take notice and file separate petitions in the province’s high court.

On Monday, the high court directed police to recover the girl and move her to a shelter home within three days. The court noted that the first issue has to be “decided first as no person under the age of 18 can get married according to the law prevailing in this country”. The case will be heard again tomorrow (Thursday).