SHO put on notice for ‘pressuring couple’

IHC directs IGP to hear petitioner's complaint and pass written order

ISLAMABAD:

The Sabzi Mandi police station SHO has been issued notices for pressuring a girl, who had married of her free will, apart from directing the IGP to hear the petitioners and issue a written order.

This was directed on Wednesday by a single-member bench of the Islamabad High Court, comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah, as it heard a petition filed by a resident of a slum in Sector I-10 who had contracted a free-will marriage but was now facing threats from their family.

The counsel for the petitioner told the court that his client had married a man of her choice on July 17. However, a local panchayat had declared the couple as 'Karo Kari', to be killed for honour. However, now, the Sector I-10 SHO, along with the girl's family was harassing the couple and pressurising them to obtain a divorce.

The lawyer said that the police officer has repeatedly called them or summoned the couple to the station and pressures them to seek divorce.

At this, the court directed Islamabad Police Inspector General Aamir Zulfiqar Khan to hear the petitioners and issue a written order.

The court also issued a notice to the Sabzi Mandi SHO and the girl's family to respond on the matter and adjourned further hearings in the case until August 20.

Earlier, the girl's husband had recorded a statement before a magistrate that he had not kidnapped nor coerced his wife to leave her family and that they had contracted a marriage of their own free will. He had further told the court that they were facing pressure and threats from their relatives.

Instead of protecting them, the man had alleged that the police was in bed with their relatives and were pressuring them.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2020.