DADU: The additional sessions court of Kotri on Tuesday threw out a man’s petition seeking custody of a teenage girl, whom he claimed to be his wife based on a forged nikahnama, and ordered registration of a case against him and his witnesses for submitting the forged document to the court.

Sources said that Zahid Junejo had filed the petition under Section 491 and produced what later turned out to be a forged nikahnama to claim that the 16-year-old girl was his legitimate wife but the girl vehemently denied her marriage in her recorded statement, dismissing the marriage certificate as forged.

The court rejected Junejo’s petition as he failed to produce further evidence to prove his claim. The girl’s father drew the judge’s attention to the petitioner’s crime of forgery and the act of misleading the court, requesting legal action against the accused.

The court hence noticed the gravity of the situation and ordered registration of a case against the petitioner and his associates for submitting the forged document.

Later, the girl’s father registered an FIR against Zahid Hussain and his fake witnesses on the forged nikahnama, Amjad Hussain and Abrar, under Sections 468 (forgery) and 384 (blackmail). Police had, however, not arrested the accused yet.

Published in Dawn, November 27th, 2024