LAHORE, Oct 4: The Lahore High Court was requested through a writ petition filed on Saturday to direct the federal government to frame laws to discourage marriages of runaway girls and the legal protection being accorded to such marriages.

The petitioner, M.D. Tahir, invoked the constitutional jurisdiction of the LHC, arguing that it was obligatory for the federal government to implement the provisions of both the Shariat and the 1973 Constitution, which did not permit marriages involving runaway girls.

He said the younger lot had started contracting marriages without the consent of their parents after elopement, leaving the parents of girls involved in such incidents with no option but to get a Hudood case registered against the boy.

However, the courts quashed these FIRs in almost all such incidents with the observation that nobody could interfere in these matters once two persons had accepted each other wilfully.

“In this way the police is being prevented by the courts from investigating such cases of elopement, which might involve minors and even fake marriage contracts,” the petitioner contended, adding that the incidence of such marriages was on the rise owing to the protection accorded by courts.

The legislature was bound by the Shariat Act 1991 to promulgate laws in accordance with Islam, in which there was no concept of marriages involving runaway girls. Once a complaint has been lodged with police by the aggrieved parents under Section 154 of the CrPC, investigation was a must and the FIR could be quashed only if it was lodged with malafide intentions, the petitioner submitted, seeking strict action against the NGOs opposing the Hudood laws and supporting marriages of runaway girls.