Free-will marriage: Couple approaches court to seek protection

Zuhaib told the court that officials of the Jacobabad police had raided his house and were harassing his parents.

SUKKUR:

The Sindh High Court’s circuit bench, Sukkur, issued notices to seven people, including the Jacobabad SSP, to appear on July 22 and file their comments on the issue of harassing Zuhaib Thaheem’s family. The petitioner, Thaheem, who had eloped and married a Hindu girl, Deepa Kumari, after she embraced Islam on June 30, alleged that they were being harassed by the police and Kumari’s relatives.

The couple appeared before the court where both Zuhaib and Tooba recorded their statements. According to their lawyer, Mujeeb Shaikh, Tooba said that neither was she kidnapped nor was she forced to embrace Islam. She added that she had left her home with Zuhaib and embraced Islam and married him of her own free will. In his statement before the court, Zuhaib said that officials of the Jacobabad police had raided his house and were harassing his parents.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2013.