LAHORE, Oct 31: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered an accused in a Hudood case to divorce a girl he had forced to marry him. The court issued the order after the girl informed the court in a statement that her Nikah with the man had been solemnised under threat.

The court granted pre-arrest bail to the accused, Waqar Awan, till December 5 when he formally divorces the girl, Gulshan Fatima.

Earlier, the accused submitted that he and the girl had contracted love marriage on June 15. The girl’s father, Hakim Abdul Islam, lodged a Hudood case with the Lohari police on June 17, accusing Awan of having abducted his daughter.

The accused said that the matter had been settled by a Panchayat and the complainant had taken her daughter with him, promising to arrange Rukhsati (the sending of a bride to her husband’s house.) But he retracted and detained the girl.

In the court, Fatima denied having married the man and said he had used force to obtain her signatures on blank papers.

The court, however, observed that the girl had not been able to explain why she had kept quiet for such a long time. —-APP