PESHAWAR: A local court on Wednesday granted pre-arrest bail to a woman named in an ‘adultery’ case.

While ordering the production of two surety bonds of Rs80,000 each by the 19-year-old, the additional district and sessions judge directed the police not to arrest her.

The woman’s husband, who is the prime accused in the case, is behind bars and faces the charge of kidnapping her as well.

Initially, her mother had alleged that the main accused, his brother and parents had kidnapped her daughter in Peshawar’s Saddar area on Oct 13, 2020, to force her into marriage.

She had told police that she had left home to take her little children to school but found her daughter (petitioner) missing on return.

The police later booked the complainant’s daughter on ‘adultery’ charge for marrying the Christian prime accused. However, the accused claimed that he had converted to Islam ahead of the marriage.

Advocate Nauman Muhib Kakakhel appeared for the petitioner and contended that the charge against his client and her husband was baseless.

Referring to fatwas (edicts) issued by various schools of Islam, he insisted that after conversion of a non-Muslim man to Islam, a Muslim woman could marry him.

The lawyer insisted that the husband of the petitioner was Muslim and therefore, their marriage was lawful.

He also said that the nikkah (marriage) of his client and her husband was solemnised in accordance with the teachings of Islam.

The counsel said the husband of the petitioner changed his name after conversion to Islam, while their child, too, had a Muslim name.

He argued that his client’s husband was a convert to Islam, so he should be considered to be Muslim in line with the teaching of the Holy Quran and Hadees and that nobody could accused him of holding old faith, Christianity.

Published in Dawn, July 14th, 2022