Arrest warrant issued for ‘same sex husband’

The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench issued red warrants of Akash Ali, the alleged groom in the same-sex marriage case as he failed to prove gender transition.

Justice Sadiq Mehmood Khurram presided over the alleged same-sex marriage case on Monday.

Aasma Bibi, who claimed to have undergone a gender transition operation and identified herself as Akash, did not appear before the court or the medical board despite several chances. Hence, the decision was pronounced on basis of the available record.

The court ordered to register a case against the suspect under sections of homosexuality, fraud, and deception and issued his red warrants.

The court said that Akash did not appear before the medical board for a gender test and instead went into hiding. The suspect’s name would stay in the exit control list (ECL) and his national identity card (NIC) would also remain blocked, it stated.

The wife in the marriage, Neha, was sent back to Darul Amaan consensually. However, she had a three-hour-long meeting with her parents in the court premises.

Justice Khurram said that Neha was free to live where she chose and rejected the application of a non-government organisation (NGO) seeking her custody.

During the proceeding, Amjad Janjua, the lawyer of Neha’s father, who filed a petition against same-sex marriage, maintained that Akash was a woman disguised as a man and she had not gone any gender transition operation. He added that homosexual relations were forbidden in Islam. He pleaded the court to order registration of a case against the groom and permit Neha to go with her parents.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2020.