SHC allows forced marriage victim to go home

Woman's mother raises hue and cry in courtroom

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court, while amending its order to send the woman to a shelter home in a forced marriage case, allowed her to go with her parents.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Iqbal Kalhoro heard the case. Petitioner Anila argued that she was forcefully married to a man named Owais Mallah by her parents in June 2021. "I have filed a case for dissolution of marriage with Owais. I live at a relative's house in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Owais filed a false case of my kidnapping, therefore, it should be quashed," she contended.

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The court remarked, "You have to choose of the three options i.e. husband, parents or shelter home." When inquired by the court, the petitioner refused to go with her parents. On the refusal of the girl, her mother and others raised a commotion in the courtroom due to which the court proceedings were suspended. The bench left the courtroom and went into the chamber.

After her mother's repeated pleadings, the petitioner agreed to go with her parents. The court while amending its previous order to send her to a shelter home, allowed her to go with her parents.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 8^th, 2022.