KARACHI, Feb 3: The Supreme Court on Saturday allowed a girl who got married on her own free will to stay with her father till July when she would be sent off ceremonially.

Eighteen-year-old Anam Anjum, who was recovered by police from her father’s house in Malir Extension on Friday, told Justice Rana Bhagwandas that she married Kamran Ali, whose complaint triggered the suo motu proceedings, on November 1, 2006, at his house.

Her parents visited her the next evening and persuaded her to rejoin them for a week. She, however, stayed on under pressure.

Her mother has developed heart trouble because of the marriage. Now that her father, Advocate Mehrab Gul, has undertaken before the court to ‘bid her farewell’ by the third week of July, she is prepared to stay with her parents till July with liberty to visit her husband ‘provided the arrangement was workable and acceptable to the court’.

In his statement, Mehrab Gul accepted the validity of the free-will marriage and undertook to ‘maintain Anam properly with affection and respect’ and send her off by the third week of July when the wedding of another of his daughters is scheduled. There would be no curbs on her meeting her husband, he assured the court.

Justice Bhagwandas also recorded Kamran Ali’s statement in his chamber at the SC registry here before disposing of his petition.