Free-will marriage: Couple looks to SHC for protection from blood-thirsty brother

Couple allege that Aqsa Memon's brother has declared her a Kari and wished to kill the couple.

KARACHI:

A newly married couple came before the Sindh High Court (SHC) to have an FIR that accused them of karo-kari removed.

Justice Gulzar Ahmed and Justice Muhammad Tasnim heard the constitutional petition filed by Aqsa Memon, who was described as sui juris or of age. She married an engineer, Ejaz Ali.

Aqsa told the court that her brother Ashraf Memon accused her of being a kari and was waiting outside the court with his friends, armed and bent on killing her and her husband. Ashraf refuses to come to court.

The bench spoke with the Hala SHO, Inspector Shamsuddin, about the FIR. The judges then asked the policeman to protect the couple.

The FIR alleges that Ejaz Ali stole jewellery and kidnapped Aqsa on June 7 - the day that the couple was married.

The court ordered the IO, who filed the FIR, to record Aqsa’s statement at the Sindh Advocate General’s office. The area’s magistrate would decide the FIR’s authenticity within a week.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2011.