Freewill marriage: Police stops family from abducting woman from court

They claimed she was already married to another man.

LAHORE:

Police stopped a woman’s family on Monday from forcibly taking her with them from the Lahore High Court.

Abida Parveen, a resident of Kamalia, had married without her family’s approval. Her family had filed a complaint against her husband Sajid Imran, stating that he had kidnapped Parveen.

On Monday, Parveen went to the High Court to seek a quashment of the FIR against Imran.

During the hearing, Parveen’s family members said that she was already married to another man, Zawar Hussain.

They said since Parveen and Hussain’s marriage had not been annulled, her marriage with Imran had no legal standing.

However, Parveen said that Imran was in fact her first husband.

The court ordered police to verify the woman’s marriage certificate and submit a report in a week.

Around 30 of Parveen’s family members there tried to kidnap her as she left the courtroom. However, the police on the court premises rescued her and sent her to a secure room.

The police sent away Parveen’s family. Some of them stood outside the court.

The girl and her brother in-law stayed at the security room for four hours.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2013.