LAHORE: A sessions court on Saturday got a man kept in illegal detention by his wife recovered and set him at liberty, allowing him to go with his brother.

The detainee, Syed Ali Raza, told Additional District and Sessions Judge Naveed Iqbal that his captor Mahwish alias Mahi “is my wife”.

“I do not want to live with her anymore. She kept me locked in a room of the house where she herself or her servants would often give me a sound thrashing. She neither allows any member of my family to see me nor permits me to make a call to them. I fear for my life,” Raza submitted before the judge.

Syed Wasim Abbas had, in a habeas corpus petition, alleged that his younger brother was illegally detained by his employer, Mahi, who was not allowing Raza to leave his ‘workplace’ and subjecting him to torture while threatening him with dire consequences.

When a court bailiff raided Mahi’s house to recover the detainee, the woman present there revealed that she was his (Ali Raza’s) wife and not the employer.

In a statement recorded before the bailiff, Mahi said she and Raza contracted marriage seven months ago. The woman also revealed that she was four-month pregnant and wanted to live with her husband.

However, Raza begged the bailiff to take him to the court as he faced life threat from his wife who “often takes me to the police station where officials thrash me at her behest”.

Before the court, Raza admitted to have married Mahi but requested that he be ‘set at liberty’ and allowed to go with his petitioner-brother.

The judge, Naveed Iqbal, allowed Raza to go with his family and disposed of the petition.

The judge observed that the man could file a separate case if he wanted action against his wife.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2015

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