0
LAHORE, July 21: The Lahore High Court ruled on Monday that the state was duty bound to protect the marriages solemnized between the individuals having the legal right to marry a person of their own choice.
Justice Tassadaq Husain gave this observation while confirming the interim bail of a Christian, Qaiser Yousaf, accused of having abducted a girl and later marrying with her illegally.
After going through the relevant record, the judge gave the finding that marriage was a union between two individuals and even non-performance of rituals would not invalidate such marriage.
“Article 35 of the 1973 Constitution enjoins the state to protect the marriage and Article 5 (2) of the UN convention on human discrimination clearly specifies that every major shall have the right to marry,” the court ruled while setting aside the verdict of the trial court in which it had declared the marriage invalid for having been solemnized by an unlicensed priest. The trial court had also directed the registration of an abduction case against Qaiser.
The court ruled that the charges levelled against the respondent were without any substance in the light of both the criminal law and Christian Marriages Act of 1872.
One Saima of Shahdara had married Qaiser on February 27 and her mother had moved the court for the registration of an abduction and theft cases against Qaiser.
The trial court had declared the marriage invalid after seeking the opinion of the general secretary and treasurer of Pakistan Bible Society, Lahore. It had held that Rev Daniel was not authorized to solemnize the marriage and the document was fake.
Saima submitted before the court that her marriage had been arranged by her elder brother with her consent and the allegations levelled against her husband were baseless. She contended that the Bible Society dealt in the religious books and it had no authority to give an opinion on the legality of a Christian marriage.
BAIL DENIED: The LHC rejected the bail of the four customs officials who are co-accused of businessman Seth Nisar in a NAB reference.
Riaz Qayyum, Muhammad Aslam, Rashid Ahmad and Qazi Naseer Ahmad had moved the court for grant of bail on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to bring any evidence against them.
However, the court rejected their application ruling that it couldn’t ignore the rule of consistency as the rest of the accused in this corruption reference had already been denied the same relief.
While responding to the plea of two petitioners for grant of bail on medical grounds, the court held that they should move an application to the trial court which could order their medical treatment.
