The Sindh High Court has ordered the formation of a medical board to determine the age of Arzoo Raja — a teenage Christian girl who was kidnapped, forced to marry a 44-year-old man in Karachi after conversion to Islam.
The matter was brought to the court attention after her parents approached the high court, seeking custody of their daughter. They had said that the girl was underage and didn’t convert out of her own free will.
The high court, however, had rejected the plea, allowing the girl to stay with her alleged husband, Ali Azhar. This prompted a strong response from the civil society and the government that filed another plea in the case.
Subsequently, the court ordered police to recover the girl and sent her to a shelter home. The purported husband was also detained and sent on judicial remand.
As a two-member bench comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito took up the case today (Thursday), the counsel representing Azhar and Arzoo urged the court to quash the forced marriage case against him.
The court, however, observed that the matter now was about the girl’s age. To this, the counsel said a separate law would be applied in that case. Arzoo also told the bench that she wanted to stay with her alleged husband, whom she married out of her own choice.
When Arzoo informed the court that she was 18 years of age, the bench pointed out that the NADRA documents showed her a teenager.
The counsel representing the state in the case asked the bench not to record the statement of Arzoo at this point.
Observing that the case can only proceed once the girl’s age is determined, the bench directed authorities to submit a final report on her age in the next hearing on November 9.
The CASE:
On Oct 27, a two-member bench of SHC had admitted a petition that claimed that she was 18 years old and had married Ali Azhar and converted to Islam with her free will. The petition also sought protection against alleged harassment of the girl’s family.
Underage girls in such cases in Pakistan come under intense pressure, including threats to them and their families, to give false statements in court.
Azhar allegedly abducted Arzoo in Karachi’s Muhalla Railway Colony West Camp Road locality on Oct. 13, according to the family, which registered a kidnapping case on the same day.
On Oct. 15 police summoned them to the local station and showed them documents claiming that Arzoo was 18 years old and had willingly converted to Islam after marrying Azhar.
