July 07, 2006	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 10, 1427

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PESHAWAR, July 6: A girl who married of her own free will was referred to the medical board by a local court on Thursday for determining her age.

The court, presided over by additional district and sessions judge Ahtesham Ali Khan, fixed July 18 for the next hearing in the pre-arrest bail petitions of the girl, Ms Sadaf, her husband, Fakhre Imam, and three other people.

Earlier, the court had extended the pre-arrest interim bail granted to the five people during the last hearing in a case filed under the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979, by Mohammad Tariq, father of the girl.

The couple had contracted nikkah on June 7. The FIR of the case was registered on June 16. The complainant claimed that his daughter was minor. He has charged Fakhre Imam, his father Hassan Khan, his mother Hashmat Begum, and Ghulam Khan, a friend of Hassan.

The complainant alleged that Fakhre Imam and his parents had lured his daughter and taken her away for the purpose of marriage.

Advocates Umer Zafran and Shahnawaz Khan appeared for the applicants and contended that the girl had contracted marriage of her own free will. They contended that the girl was sui juris and was legally empowered to select a person of her choice for the purpose of marriage.

They contended that the girl was neither abducted by the accused people mentioned in the FIR nor had they lured her.

The complainant’s counsel produced a school certificate claiming that the girl was only 12 years old.

The applicants counsel argued that the police had mentioned her age as 17 or 18 years old, whereas the girl herself claimed that she was 19. They pointed out that under section 2(a) of the Zina Ordinance a girl was considered adult if she was 16 or had attained puberty.

They added that her medical examination should be conducted which would clarify the situation.

The court decided to refer her to the medical board for conducting an examination to ascertain her exact age.

The girl has claimed that her husband’s family had visited their residence on various occasions seeking her hand, but her parents had turned down their requests following which they decided to marry in court.