Family court: ‘I made a mistake’

Woman chooses to return to parents weeks after elopement, marriage.

LAHORE:

The Lahore High Court on Friday allowed a woman to return to live with parent after she refused to go with her husband, whom she had recently married, calling the marriage a mistake.

On Friday, Yasmeen, 22,a resident of Hanjarwal, appeared before the court and said that she had eloped with Imran, 26, a resident of Islampura, on August 3 and married him without her parents’ consent.

She said on August 5, her father, Bilal, registered a case against Imran in Hanjarwal police station accusing him of kidnapping his daughter. He also named Imran’s relatives, Kishwar, Ashraf and Shahbaz, in the FIR.

She told the court, she then returned to her parents’ house. She said after she returned, she realised that she had made a mistake in marrying Imran. She said she had decided to stay with her parents and dissolve her marriage. Imran, who was present in the court, said that Yasmeen was under her parents’ influence. He said when she did not return after some days, he had gone to her parents’ house to bring her back, but they had refused to let her go. He said he had registered an FIR against Yasmeen’s father in Islampura police station for keeping his wife in illegal custody.

Later, Imran moved a petition in the LHC seeking recovery of his wife from her parents. The court ordered the Hanjarwal SHO to produce the girl in court.

On Friday, Yasmeen was produced in Justice Anwarul Haq’s court, where she said that she was staying with her parents by choice. She told the court that she had realised the mistake she had made in marrying Imran and did not want to live with him any longer.

The judge allowed her to go with her parents.



Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2011.