PESHAWAR, May 19: The Peshawar High Court on Friday admitted to full hearing a writ petition challenging the shifting by police of a newly-married girl from a local shelter house to Islamabad.

A two-member bench put on notice the respondents, including police officers of the NWFP and Punjab.

The bench comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan observed that the points raised by the petitioner’s counsel needed consideration. May 31 was fixed for next hearing.

Robeena Zaheen left her parents’ home in Islamabad last month and married Ghulam Ali of her own free will in Peshawar. Her father, Zaheen Ahmad, lodged an FIR with the Bhara Kahu police station in Islamabad on April 10 under the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979, accusing Ghulam Ali of abducting his daughter. Robeena refuted the allegation in a lower court in Peshawar and expressed the fear that her family members would eliminate her.

She was shifted to Islamabad by the Bhara Kahu police on May 12. The same day her relatives allegedly attacked her with firearms at an Islamabad hospital where she had been taken for obtaining medico-legal opinion.

Robeena and two other persons, including a policewoman, suffered injuries in the shooting. At present, Robeena is under treatment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences.

Ghulam Ali was sent to the Adiala jail.

The petition has been filed by Maqsood Ahmad, an uncle of Ghulam Ali, saying that the girl had been shifted to Islamabad in an illegal manner and she should be brought back to Peshawar and provided with proper treatment. He requested the court to issue directives for registration of an FIR against the Bhara Kahu police and Zaheen Ahmad.

Qayyum Sarwar, Usman Khan Tarlandi and Manzoor Khalil are representing the petitioner.

Mr Sarwar contended before the court that the Islamabad police had not fulfilled the requirement under section 86 of the Criminal Procedure Code before taking away the girl.

He said the girl had married Ghulam Ali of her own free will and, therefore, Zaheer Ahmed did not have any justification to lodge the case.

The counsel said a judicial magistrate in Peshawar had ordered that the girl be kept in Darul Aman and she could be taken to Islamabad for recording her statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Mr Sarwar pointed out that the very next day an additional sessions judge suspended the magistrate’s orders following which the Islamabad police had no authority to conduct a raid in Peshawar to take the girl away.