Father accepts custody of his love child

Mother contested his claim as she feared defamation in society

LAHORE: A man has taken his baby boy into custody after the child was given up to a charity organisation.

The father had to move the court to take the baby back. However, the child’s 18-year-old mother contested the father’s claim, saying the man will defame her by taking custody of their ‘illegitimate’ offspring. The mother is a niece of the man’s wife.



A close relative of both the parties, seeking anonymity, told The Express Tribune that Hafeez*, who brought his wife’s niece to looking after their children, had developed illicit relations with Safia*. He said a ‘pir’ appeared in his soul and advised that the he should stay the night with the girl. He promised her a bright future if the teenager followed his suggestion.

Subsequently, the girl informed him that she had become pregnant.

However, he told her that nothing would happen if she gave birth to the child as it was his pir’s wish.

The wife came to know of their relationship after the pregnancy matured. The father wanted the girl to abort the delivery, but his wife took the courageous of halting the process. She said the child was not at fault for the illicit relations of two adults.

The wife, Amina*, took her niece to the hospital where the latter gave birth to a baby boy. To legalise this process, the man ordered the girl to sign a ‘nikahnama’, but she refused. As a result, the man expelled her from his house.

As the girl reached her home with the baby, the parents asked about the child and she narrated the entire incident. The parents directed her to return the child after which the infant was over to the father. After a few days, the minor was thrown back into the lap of the mother by the man’s Hafeez’s family. The relatives said the child was “illegitimate” and they could not look after him.

After that, the girl’s parents decided to start legal proceedings against the father. Meanwhile, Hafeez applied pressure on the girl to sign a nikahnama, saying he will divorce after she signs. However, the girl’s family thought the man was cheating her and was only marrying her for legal cover.

After that, the father allegedly threatened to kill the child. The mother feared these threats and her parents convinced her to put the child in a swing placed outside the Edhi Foundation.



Hafeez’s wife was enraged when she came to know that her husband was deliberately not bringing the minor back home. When she asked about the minor, her niece’s family did not respond her after which she involved the police.

The police started an investigation and found the child at the Edhi Foundation. To get the baby’s custody, the man’s wife forced him to file a habeas corpus petition at the district and sessions court.

The girl also moved to the sessions court as she knew the man had filed for custody.

The counsels of both the parties appeared before the court. The mother’s lawyer contended her client was blackmailed and the child was a love child that came into being due their illicit relations.

The counsel for the father, on the other hand, argued that his client had solemnised a nikah with the girl. The girl’s counsel replied by saying her client accepts her guilt before the court and is ready to give the custody to the man if he provides a nikahnama before the court.

The father’s counsel submitted this was not the forum to decide the legitimacy of the child and said the boy was as good as dead for the mother after she left him at the Edhi Foundation. He produced the birth certificate of the child and the man’s name was mentioned in the father’s column. Ultimately, the suckling baby was handed over to the father.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2017.