Police told to submit final charge sheet in Dua Zahra case by Aug 1

A District East judicial magistrate on Wednesday directed the investigating officer to furnish until August 1 the final investigation report after concluding his probe into a case pertaining to the alleged abduction and underage marriage of Dua Zahra.

The teenage girl had gone missing from her Malir Halt home in April and later emerged in Punjab where she claimed she had contracted a freewill marriage with a man, Zaheer Ahmed. On Tuesday, a Lahore court sent her to a Darul Aman (a shelter home) on her request.

Zahra turned up before the court and claimed she had separated from Ahmed and her life was in danger as her parents were threatening her with dire consequences. She pleaded with the judge to send her to the Darul Aman, which was granted.

Judicial Magistrate-XXVI (East) Aftab Ahmed Bughio resumed the hearing of the case on Wednesday. The state prosecutor informed that a sessions court had issued directives for replacement of the investigation officer of the case and entrusting the probe to another officer, who is “competent and trained, or at least have experience in conducting investigation in such cases”. He said the investigation was yet to assigned.

The incumbent IO, DSP Shaukat Shahani, submitted a progress report requesting more time to conclude the investigation. He stated that a team of the Sindh police who had gone to Punjab with approval of the provincial home department to recover Zahra and arrest her purported husband had not returned and the absconding accused, including Ahmed, were yet to be arrested.

He, therefore, pleaded with the court to grant 10 days’ time to submit the final investigation report. Adjourning the hearing, the magistrate directed the IO to submit the report until August 1.

Earlier, the magistrate had rejected the final investigation report submitted by the IO under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) seeking cancellation of the FIR lodged on the complaint of Zahra’s parents. He had said the abduction and underage marriage charges were not proven.

Last week, the investigation officer informed a sessions court hearing an application filed by Zahra’s father, Syed Mehdi Ali Kazmi, seeking replacement of the investigation officer, that he had collected sufficient evidence to prove the charges and approached the home department for permission to travel to Punjab to arrest Zaheer Ahmed for allegedly abducting and solemnising underage marriage with her.

A medical board formed to check the age of the girl declared her to be between 15 and 16 years old, the IO maintained and added he obtained call data record (CDR) of Ahmed’s phone number on the magistrate’s directives, which showed that he was in Karachi on April 16, when she went missing from her residence.

He said the investigation so far carried out into the case, statements of the witnesses, and the assessment of girl’s age, as well as the CDR analysis, provide sufficient evidence against Zaheer and 32 other suspects. Two accused -- Hafiz Ghulam Mustafa, a local cleric who solemnised the marriage and Asghar Ali, one of the two eyewitnesses to the marriage, are in judicial custody.