SHC issues notices in free-will marriage case
The Sindh High Court (SHC) summoned the petitioner and issued notices to the Sindh government and other parties on the request of Arzoo Fatima, who married of her choice after converting to Islam.
The petition was heard by a SHC bench headed by Justice KK Agha.
Arzoo Fatima requested the court to allow her to go to her parents' house. She approached the court through a shelter home.
The petitioner contended that the court had sent her to a shelter home on November 2, 2020, on the grounds that she had been married at an early age.
Now she wants to go to her parents' house from the shelter home.
To this, the court summoned Arzoo Fatima. Justice KK Agha remarked that the court would decide after listening to Arzoo Fatima.
The court also issued notices to the Sindh government and other parties.
Read More: Free-will marriage meets a tragic end
Arzoo Fatima had converted to Islam and married Ali Azhar. In Sindh, it is a crime to get married before the age of 18. Arzoo Fatima had earlier refused to go with her parents.
Also, the Sindh High Court adjourned the hearing of petitions against the death sentence awarded by a military court in the Safoora tragedy.
The counsel argued that petitions against the decisions of the military court were also being heard in the Supreme Court.
He said the hearing should be adjourned till the decision of the apex court. The court adjourned the hearing of the petitions for four months.
The military court had sentenced Saad Aziz, Tahir Minhas, Azhar Ishrat, Hafiz Nasir and Asadur Rehman to death.
The military court had sentenced the suspects to death in Safoora tragedy and other terrorism cases.
The petition argues that the petitioners have been sentenced to death by a military court on various charges. Details of the cases are not being disclosed to the families of the suspects.
The suspects should be allowed to meet their respective families and their execution should be stopped.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2021.