KARACHI, June 13: A woman remarried by her father after annulment of her free will marriage by a tribal jirga was on Monday ordered by the Sindh High Court to be lodged at Darul Aman for three days before recording of her statement. Petitioner Shahid Mustafa submitted through Advocate Zia Ahmed Awan that he and Imam Khatoon, both adult, married of their free will and against the wishes of their relatives. They were forcibly separated after birth of their first child and his wife was declared a ‘kari’ by a tribal jirga held at Jacobabad. She was handed over to her father, who remarried her to a man of his choice. The jirga formally recorded its verdict on its letterhead.
The court ordered her production but the direction was not complied with by her father. A direction was issued to the police and the Jacobabad town police officer produced Imam Khatoon on Monday along with two children. She had a suckilng child from her second marriage.
The petitioner’s counsel said the jirga had no authority to dissolve their marriage and a second marriage could not be contracted during the subsistence of a valid first marriage. He said Imam Khatoon had remained too long in her father’s custody and the courtroom was full of members of her family. Her statement should, therefore, be recorded after a lapse of reasonable time. The petitioner should also be allowed to meet her.
Justice Azizullah M. Memon, Who is hearing the petition, ordered that Imam Khatoon be lodged at Darul Aman and produced in court again on June 17.
CONVICTION: The Sindh High Court on Monday dismissing an appeal of two juvenile convicts, upheld their conviction awarded to them by an ATC for kidnapping and killing a school boy in September 2003.
Waqar Ali Shamsi and Mohammed Arshad were sentenced to life imprisonment twice by an ATC in Karachi on Jan 15, after it found them guilty of kidnapping and killing Hafiz Omer, a school boy of class IX.—PPI
