PESHAWAR, Jan 4: Three women living in a government-run Women Crisis Centre are reported to have left the place under questionable circumstances.

Officials said the centre’s management had let the three women go because “they wanted to move out on their own”. They had not sought the court’s permission before leaving.

The three missing women have been identified as Salma, Kulsoom and Razia.

A local court had sent Salma and Kulsoom to the crisis centre after they ran away from their homes. Razia had taken shelter at the centre because of her husband’s harsh treatment.

Officials claimed that a lawyer of the Peshawar High Court was instrumental in the three women’s “escape” from the centre, which is run by the social welfare department. He had left a note, saying that the women were leaving the centre of their own will.

Father of Ms Salma, Zahid Marjan, has filed an application before a local court, requesting registration of an FIR against the centre’s management and other people. He claimed that his daughter Salma was married to his nephew Matiullah and was brought to Peshawar not long ago for treatment.

She began living with one Ali Rehman in the Pishtakhara area. The local police raided the residence and recovered her. A local court ordered that she should be kept in the crisis centre till further orders because the woman feared for her life.

Mr Marjan claimed that he went to the centre to meet his daughter on Dec 26, but was informed that she was not there. He believed that Ali Rehman and two of his relatives had taken away his daughter in connivance with the centre’s management.