Girl sent to asylum after her ‘husbands’ fail to prove their relationship with her

Two men claiming to be her husbands are not able to present proof of their marriage.

KAMALIA: A girl was sent to a shelter home by a judicial magistrate after two men claiming to be her husbands could not present proof of their marriage.

The magistrate, Sajid Mehmood, directed the two men to submit proof of their marriage at the Kamalia police station.

The girl, Shaishta, along with the men, Imran and Qaisar Abbas, was held by the police at Kamalia bus stand and presented before the court. The police was called to the scene after both claimants started quarreling at the bus stand, attracting passersby’s attention.

Shaishta, a 720 GB village resident, told the court that she was married to Qaiser Abbas nine months ago against her will. She said that she eloped with Muhammad Imran three months after her nikkah with Abbas. She further said that her father, Kabir, also present in the court, tricked her into coming back to Kamalia by saying that Abbas had divorced her and that the family had no objection to her marriage. On arrival, she said, she was forcibly sent with Abbas to his village.

On Wednesday, Shaista and Abbas were returning to Kamalia, and she had reportedly informed Imran about the time they would arrive at the Bus Stand.

Talking to the Express Tribune, the girl said that she and Imran ran away to Lahore where they contacted a seminary in Garhi Shahu area. “We told them that we were Christians and wanted to embrace Islam.” The cleric, on whose hands the couple converted to Islam, named her Shazia Sultan, the name she used to marry Imran in a civil court on June 9, 2010.

Imran told The Express Tribune that though Shaista had not informed him about her first nikkah he wanted to stay married to her. “She said that the only way we could stay together was by running away from our houses. She did not tell me about her first marriage.” He said that they had gotten married in a court of law and added that he will not back out. “I’ll present the documents to the police,” Imran said.

Qaiser Abbas, said that Shaista’s nikkah with Imran was not valid because he did not divorce her and she was his wife at the time she married Imran in the court.

The Kamalia police are investigating the case and access to the girl has been barred by the court until both men present their nikkahnamas.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 24^th, 2010.