LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Thursday granted interim protective bail to the husband of Dua Zahra, a Karachi girl who contracted marriage against the will of her family.

Zaheer Ahmad, the husband of the girl, along with his counsel, appeared before the court of Justice Aalia Neelum.

The counsel argued that the girl married the petitioner of her own free will as she was legally major. He said the family of the girl had been levelling false allegations of kidnapping, which she refuted. He said the Sindh police also registered a baseless case against the petitioner.

He said police were likely to arrest the petitioner and asked the court to grant protective bail him so that he could approach the court concerned for the pre-arrest bail.

Justice Neelum allowed the petition and granted interim protective bail to Ahmad till July 14.

A fresh medical report prepared on the order of the Sindh High Court to determine the age of Dua Zahra who had gone missing from her Karachi residence in April but was later found to have married Ahmad in Lahore concluded that her age was between 15 and 16 years.

The parents of the girl had been claiming that she was legally minor and could not contract marriage under the law.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2022