Gay marriage case: SHO fails to turn up at hearing

Petitioner is seeking case against brother for civil union with another man.

LAHORE:

An additional district and sessions judge on Saturday adjourned proceedings on a petition seeking the registration of a case against two men who reportedly contracted a civil union in the UK.

The judge had summoned the station house officer for his comments on the petition filed by Muhammad Nauman, a resident of Multan Road, asking the court to order the police that an FIR be registered against his brother, Hafiz Salman Talib, and his alleged spouse, Muhammad Zaheer Abbas, for marrying one another.

When contacted on Saturday, the SHO concerned said that he did not know he had been summoned to the court, nor had he any recollection of anyone approaching him to register such a case.

At the last hearing, the complainant told the court that his family had sent Talib to the UK to study. He said that in April, Talib and Abbas came to Pakistan. The family, he said, spoke with Talib about getting married. According to Nauman, his brother made up excuses but finally told them that he had already married Abbas in the UK.

Talib showed the family a certificate of civil partnership, Nauman said. The complainant said when the family tried to separate the two, they fled.

The complainant told the court that he went to the police station to register a case against the two men but the police officials refused to entertain it. He said that the police had told him that UK law allowed men to live as a couple.

The police, he said, told him that no action could be taken against them in Pakistan. Nauman prayed to the court that the SHO be directed to register an FIR against the men and the police be directed to arrest them.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 15^th, 2011.