Man can’t escape wedding, even behind bars

Convicted cop killer weds childhood sweetheart in court hallway ceremony.

LAHORE:

A convicted murderer married his childhood sweetheart in a bizarre scene in the halls of the District Courts on Thursday.

Zohaib Butt, 23, convicted of killing a traffic sergeant in 2005, and Asima Riaz, 22, had a nikah ceremony just outside the courtroom of Judicial Magistrate Sohail Riaz, amidst a delighted crowd. Their relatives distributed sweets amongst prisoners, litigants, lawyers and policemen, before Butt’s guards separated the couple and sent him back to Kot Lakhpat jail.

Later speaking to The Express Tribune, Zohaib said that apart from marrying the love of his life, the ceremony was also a protest against his conviction, which he said was unjust. He said the police had shot him five times in a staged encounter after his arrest and then charged him with attempted murder, charges which an anti-terrorism court had acquitted him of.

Zohaib was brought to the District Courts on Thursday morning for a hearing in another case against him for possessing unlicensed weapons. In a new shalwar qamees, he then waited three hours for his bride to arrive. Wearing a simple red wedding dress, Asima appeared at noon seeking to apply to a judge for permission to marry the prisoner.

However, the court was on its lunch break by then, and several lawyers advised the couple not to seek permission from a judge as they would likely deny it. They suggested that they just go ahead with the nikah ceremony.

The police guards, meanwhile, sought to take Zohaib back into the lock-up. After much pleading by their relatives (the groom’s parents, cousins and friends, and the bride’s uncle, sister and other family members), the guards agreed to let the ceremony proceed. A maulvi, pushed to hurry by nervous policemen and family members, performed the ceremony in record time. The gathered crowd cheered and congratulated the couple.

In the application Asima had planned to submit to a judge, she said that it was an urgent matter as family members were putting pressure on her to get married and relatives were sending in proposals for their sons.

Zohaib’s father Athar Zameer Butt said that he was very pleased that the couple had wed and prayed that they would be able to live together after his son was released. He lashed out at the judicial system, saying ‘justice’ was only available to the rich while the poor were victimised.

The prisoner said it was a dream come true to be married to Asima. He said that they had met while students at the Happy Home School in Mozang. He said that Asima was loyal and would meet him in jail and attend his hearings.

He said that he was innocent and the nikah ceremony was also meant as a protest against his conviction. He said he had been convicted of killing Assistant Sub Inspector Noor Muhammad at Mozang Chowk.

He said that he was arrested on July 10, 2005. Four days later, he said, police officials tried to kill him in a staged encounter, shooting him five times.

He spent three months in Ganga Ram Hospital and then continued receiving treatment in jail for six months before recovering. He was later charged with attempted murder and shooting at the police, but cleared of the charges by Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Muqarrab Ali Khan.

He was, however, convicted of killing the ASI and sentenced to life in prison.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 9^th, 2011.