PESHAWAR: Couple faces threats from girl’s parents
Bureau Report
PESHAWAR, May 27: A couple charged under the Hudood Ordinance are on the run and have sought protection from the judiciary and police as they are being threatened by family members of the woman.
The couple, belonging to Karak district, married of their free will as their families were against that match.
The man, Salahuddin Khan, and his wife, Basreena, told Dawn on Friday that they had been receiving threats from the brothers of the woman and they had regularly been changing their residence to avoid any attack.
They said that their case had been pending before a court in Karak and they had been feeling threatened visiting the court.
“We were engaged with each other, but later on the step-mother of Basreena broke off the engagement and was against our marriage,” said Salahuddin who is a sepoy in the Frontier Corps and based in Quetta.
He said that on Sept 14, 2005, his wife, who is now 19, left her residence and accompanied him following which they married through nikkah. His counsel, Asthagfirullah Khan, informed that an FIR was registered against Salahuddin by Hayat Begum, the step-mother of Basreena, under the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979 at police station Takhte Nusrathi (Karak) wherein he was charged with abducting the woman.
He said that on Feb 11,2006 the police produced the woman before the court of an additional district and sessions judge who ordered that she should be shifted to Darul Aman.
The parda-observing woman stated that she remained in prison for a month. She was granted bail by the sessions court. Her husband was released on bail on April 7 by the Peshawar High Court.
Ms Basreena wanted to know why she was kept in prison even though she had not committed any crime. “My only crime was that I supported my husband and told the court that he had not abducted me,” she said.
Mr Asthagfirullah stated that the complainant alleged that the girl was under-age. However, her medical examination proved that she was legally competent to contract marriage.
He said that the police had violated section 156(B) of the Criminal Procedure Code. Under that section investigation against a woman in a Hudood case should be conducted by an officer not below the rank of superintendent of police and secondly, no female could be arrested without permission of the court.
In this case investigation officer is a sub-inspector and the woman was arrested without court’s permission.
When asked how they contracted marriage against wishes of their families Mr Salahuddin said that they had not done anything wrong. “We were already engaged due to which we liked each other and decided to marry,” Salahuddin said.
