PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has rejected bail petition of three persons including two brothers, charged with kidnapping a minor girl and forcing her to marry one of them.

A single-member bench of Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan observed that the court had already rejected bail pleas of the three accused persons in January.

The three petitioners named Sher Ali, his brother Raza Khan and another of his relative Lal Mohammad, residents of Kabal tehsil in Swat, claimed that they were innocent and were falsely implicated in the case.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at Shah Derai police station in Swat on September 11, 2021, on complaint filed by father of the alleged victim. The case was registered under different provisions of Pakistan Penal Code including section 365-B (kidnapping woman to compel for marriage), 453 (house trespass), 458 (house trespass for hurting a person), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 148 (rioting), along with section 53 (sexual abuse) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act and section 3 of Prevention of Trafficking in Persons Act.

Petitioners include two brothers and a relative

The complainant alleged that around 10 years ago the sister of one of the accused Raza Khan had left her residence with a brother of the complainant and they had entered into wedlock with their free will and had since then been living a happy life.

He stated that around three months ago, Raza Khan approached him and demanded to marry his daughter with his son, who had been working in Saudi Arabia.

He alleged that Raza and his other brothers had also been telling him that he had to bear all the expenses of the marriage as because of his brother they had been dishonoured in the area.

However, he stated that he rejected their demand over which they were annoyed. He alleged that on the night of occurrence, the accused persons along with some other of their relatives forcibly entered his residence, tied him up and kidnapped his daughter for purpose of marrying her to any of their family members.

Subsequently, the victim was recovered and she recorded her statement before a magistrate under section 164 of Code of Criminal Procedure. She claimed that she was forcibly taken away and her nikkah was contracted with accused Sher Ali without her willingness.

As per medical examination of the victim girl, she was 15 to 16 years of age and was a minor and not adult.

Earlier, the bail pleas of the accused persons were rejected by a child protection court in Swat on December 29, 2021.

The court had ruled that the offence for which the petitioners were charged fell within the ambit of prohibitory clause of section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The court had observed that no mala-fide on the part of complainant’s party was available from the record of the case and the petitioners had played an active role in the commission of the offence.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2022