Free-will marriage: Court summons officer over harrassment

KARACHI: A court has asked an investigating officer in an abduction case to explain himself after a newly married couple accused the police of harassment in Hyderabad. He has been directed to appear before court on January 24.

A division bench of the Sindh High Court was hearing a constitutional petition filed by Hakeeman and her husband Ali Ghulam. She claimed that the police, named in the case, harassed her after her mother Kamal lodged an FIR under section 264-A (abduction), 506-B read with section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The bench of justices Gulzar Ahmed and Imam Bux Baloch gave the orders after the Hyderabad district police officer and Cantonment station house officer said that an FIR was registered on the orders of an additional district and sessions judge. On Monday, the DPO and SHO said that they never harassed the couple and the FIR was registered only after an order was issued by a court. The court noted that the IO was not present, after which it adjourned the proceedings.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 18^th,  2011.