HYDERABAD: Medical board to determine Taxila girl’s age
By Our Correspondent
HYDERABAD, Oct 12: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court has asked the director general of Health Services to form a medical board to ascertain if the run-away girl from Taxila who married a man from Tando Allahyar has attained puberty and submit a report within a week.
The court issued the order on a petition filed by Ms Haleema, a resident of Taxila, requesting the court to record her and her husband’s statements and provide them legal protection from her parents and police officials.
The court restrained the police and officials of Darul Aman from harassing her till it gives its judgement.
Ms Haleema said that she had married Ghulam Mohammad Leghari, a resident of Tando Allahyar, and had submitted an affidavit to the civil judge and judicial magistrate-II of Hyderabad stating that she started living in Mehar Ali Shah village after her nikah.
She said that her parents were influential people and they wanted to marry her against her will to another person to which she refused.
Now they were trying to separate her from her husband with the help of DPOs of Tando Allahyar and Tando Mohammad Khan.
She said that the SHOs of Chambar, Tando Allahyar and Tando Mohammad Khan were conducting raids without any lawful authority to arrest her husband. The SHOs of Chambar and Tando Allahyar had put under detention nine relatives of her husband to please her parents, she said.
The girl’s father, Mohammad Tasadduq Hashmi, responding through an application, requesting the court to make him intervenor in the petition that on August 21 unknown people kidnapped his daughter who was still a minor.
The police were informed the same day and they lodged a formal FIR on August 23, he said adding that at about the same time he came to know that his daughter was seen in Badin.
He went there and found that the people behind the kidnapping had escaped before his arrival, he said. Later, he learnt that they had made her change the name to Saeeda and sign an affidavit before her marriage to Ghulam Mohammad Leghari.
He said that since her daughter was under 16 she was not competent to sign an affidavit. He alleged that she had been coerced to sign it.
Ms Haleema’s counsel, Mohammad Sachal R Awan, said that she was 18 years old when her nikkah was performed and even otherwise she had attained the age of puberty by then and was entitled to live with her husband.
Mr Hashmi’s counsel, Abdul Majeed Bhatti, showed the court a certificate issued by Nadra and a birth certificate from the union council of Gharibwal as well as a school certificate proving she was still a minor and therefore her nikkah could not be considered as legal.
At this stage, the judges went into their chamber to discuss the case with the petitioner and her parents in light of new developments and allowed her to meet her parents.
The court then ordered the director general of Health Services to form a medical board to examine the girl and determine as to whether she had attained puberty or not and if so, since when, and submit a report before the next date of hearing on October 19.
