Happy ending: Judge reproaches girl for betraying family
A woman who had married against her family’s wishes and had been illegally detained by them was allowed to go with her husband on Friday – but not without a bit of chiding by the judge.
Okara district police officer presented Maryam Lashari in the Lahore High Court after recovering her from the custody of her family. Lashari married Humayun Shahzad, a traffic warden, against her family’s wishes.
When the proceedings started, the judge asked the girl why she had betrayed her parents who had looked after her for so many years. “You should have concentrated on your studies and left the decision about your marriage to your family,” the judge told her.
When he asked the girl who she wanted to go with, Maryam chose her husband, Humayun Shahzad. Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu then allowed her to do so and disposed of the petition.
The judge had detained Okara’s City Circle DSP and an SHO for four hours, during the last hearing, after they failed to recover the girl.
Shahzad had filed a habeas corpus petition for the recovery of his wife.
The petitioner had submitted, through his counsel Asghar Ali Gill, that he had married Lashari without the consent of her family three years ago. Later, they had invited her home and said that they would send her back after a few days. But instead they detained her. He said that the girl’s family was trying to force her to seek a divorce from him. He had said that his wife’s life was in danger and that his in-laws had also been threatening him.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2011.
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While the story has a happy ending, it was not the Judge's job to offer a " muft mashwara" ( free advice ) to the girl. The girl is above 18, is a muslim, free and sane and therefore has a God given right ( expressely given in Holy Quran) to choose her mate. Family pressure in the Pakistani culture is responsible for a lot of misfortunes,absurd marriages, where young girls are married off to very old lechers, and miserable life to girls. Numerous cases of suicide are caused by the so called "family honor" and'Baradari" culture. The judge should stop being an unctious paternising gasbag.
@sashayub An absurd commet by u
A case of conflicting rights...one has to compromise
The right place for preaching sermons on morality is mosque and pulpit, My Lord!
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave women the right to choose who they married and forbade his followers from forcing marriage upon them. This women's family AND the judge should be ashamed of themselves, for choosing their backwards local customs over Islamic teaching.
Justice cannot exist in vacuum. I don't understand why liberals love immorality.