December 07, 2006	Thursday	Ziqa'ad 15, 1427

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LAHORE, Dec 6: The Supreme Court on Wednesday was informed by SP (Investigation) Babar Bakht that the ‘nikahnama’ (marriage deed) produced by a peasant member of Wagah Town Council, Chaudhry Basharat Husain, was fake, seemingly prepared to ward off allegations of rape levelled against the accused.

An apex court bench, headed by Justice Khalilur Rehman Khan Ramday, took serious notice of the forged document and got five people, including the ‘nikahkhwan’, who prepared the deed, arrested.

On the court order, the police took into custody the alleged rape victim and her father Mohammad Jameel to investigate the case. Those arrested were handcuffed in the court and were taken to the Sarwar Road police station, Cantonment.

The town council member had produced the marriage deed to the surprise of the court last week. The court, observing that the accused made no mention of his marriage with the girl when he appeared on Nov 24, had directed the SP to verify the authenticity of the deed.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, taking a suo motu notice of the alleged rape of the girl, upon a letter written by her father, had constituted a two-member bench to proceed in the case. The girl, along with her parents, resided as domestic servants in the house of the council member at Mahmood Booti. Jameel alleged in his letter to the chief justice of Pakistan that Basharat had been subjecting his daughter to physical and sexual assault.

The SP submitted that the ‘nikahnama’ was a forged document and was not registered. The court censured the nikahkhawan, Hafiz Abdul Ghafoor Mehrvi, also a prayer leader at a Baghbanpura mosque, for abetting in Basharat’s criminal offence. “What kind of a Muslim are you who does not hesitate about committing forgery against the cannons of Islam”, Justice Ramday asked the prayer leader who had no answer to the question.

The court directed the police to arrest Hafiz Mehravi, along with the four `witnesses’ to the wedding— Javed Ahmad, Mohammad Arif, Mubashir Husain and Mohammad Husain— and another person involved in the crime, Mohammad Rafiq. The court also directed the Wagha Town Council to cancel Hafiz Mehravi’s license.