Dinar missing from Soldier Bazaar appears in Vehari

In a spike in elopement cases, Jacobabad teen ties free will knot with Karachi youth

KARACHI:

After Dua and Nimrah, the case of a 25-year-old girl named Dinar, who went missing from Soldier Bazaar, also turned out to be that of elopement.

The alleged marriage certificate of the third girl who went missing from Karachi also came to light. The girl got married to a boy named Asad Abbas in the Vehari district of Punjab.

Dinar went missing from the Soldier Bazaar area a few days ago. When the girl went missing, her father, Deedar Ali, submitted an application for registration of an abduction case. At this, the police received his application and told him that they would register the case after getting instructions from the higher officials.

Dinar got married to a young man named Asad Abbas in the Vehari district of Punjab. According to Soldier Bazar police, the marriage certificate of the missing girl Dinar came to light yesterday. The marriage date is 23rd April 2022 on the marriage certificate.

The box for the bride's lawyer and witness on the marriage certificate is filled as "independent". The date of birth of the bride is recorded as 28th April 1997, whereas the box for the bridegroom's lawyer also mentions "independent".

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Two persons witnessed the marriage. Police say the family withdrew the application for registration of the abduction case after the marriage certificate came to light and the girl contacted the family.

Jacobabad girl elopes with Karachi youth

Another case of marriage by choice came to light. Izzat, a girl from Mirpur Buriro Jacobabad, got married to a boy named Irfan in Karachi. The Sindh High Court directed the investigation officer to record the girl's statement and let her go with her husband.

A bench headed by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro heard the petition filed by the girl's parents, who married her choice. "I have married Irfan of my own free will," said Izzat, the petitioner who got married of her choice. "No one kidnapped me," she added.

The public prosecutor stated that the girl was apparently under 18. Justice Kalhoro remarked that the girl's parents had registered a kidnapping case while the girl says no one kidnapped her. "If parents object to the age limit, they should file a separate case," the judge remarked.

The Lahore High Court has also ruled that a girl can marry of her own free will if she is an adult. The court directed the IO to record the girl's statement and let her go with her husband.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 27^th, 2022.