25 June 2004	Friday	06 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, June 24: The New Town police on Thursday arrested a couple after the additional district and sessions judge, Rawalpindi, rejected their bail plea.

Zubair Akhtar and Sobia Parveen, who were in hiding for the last three months after their love marriage, appeared before the court to attend the bail proceedings instituted on their application.

The additional sessions judge, Akram Bhatti, refused to grant bail to the couple for not cooperating with the police during investigations. The couple alleged that they were being harassed by the Ms Parveen family and some plain-clothes policemen.

Zubair Akther is facing charges of abduction and rape while Ms Parveen is being accused by her father of re-marrying without getting divorce from her first husband, Shahzad. However, Ms Parveen, denied the accusation.

An informed source told Dawn that the New Town police had also picked up Yasmeen Malik, mother of Mr Akther, on May 10 and she was still under detention in the Adiala Jail.

Meanwhile, the Progressive Women's Association (PWA) chairperson, Shahnaz Bukhari, condemned the harassment of the couple. She said the couple came to the PWA and they took them to the session court where a petition was filed to recover Yasmeen Malik.