‘Husband' in same-sex marriage divorces wife

The ‘husband’ in an alleged same-sex marriage case has divorced his wife, it was learnt on Monday.

Earlier, before further proceeding, the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) had ordered Akash, also known as Asma Bibi, to undergo a gender-identity test to ascertain whether she had transited to a man or not. The couple had gone into hiding after the court had ordered the test. They kept avoiding an appearance in court first on the pretext of contracting the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) and then on contracting typhoid. However, Akash has now divorced his teenaged wife.

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In this regard, Amjad Janjua, the counsel for the teenaged girl’s father, who had filed the petition against the alleged same-sex marriage, said that Akash failed to appear before the medical board set up by the court at the district headquarters hospital (DHQ) to medically check his gender.

Janjua claimed that this vindicated their stance that it was all a spectacle to promote illicit practices in society.

He asserted that Akash was actually a woman who had solemnised an illegitimate marriage with the petitioner’s daughter.

The lawyer said that the development in the case will be brought before the court's knowledge so that it could pronounce a verdict.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 4^th, 2020.