HYDERABAD, Sept 29: A woman who says she had been living an immoral life for eight years and now married a man of her choice, seeks police protection because she is being threatened by her family.

Police produced her and her husband, Daulat Abbas Jafri, in the court of judicial magistrate Adam Ishaq Singhar where she recorded her statement saying that she had married of her own free will.

Her mother had tried to lodge a case against her when she left her home with Daulat Jafri for nikah which was performed on September 23. "I had been in that profession for eight years and my family is angry because I have left them", the woman who has three daughters, told Dawn. Her husband is a small trader and also performs in a musical group as drummer.

He said that he had come across the woman in a marriage garden during a musical programme and they liked each other. He said that he respected his wife's elder sister who liked him but now she also is against the marriage.

He said that his mother was dead and his step mother refused to accept his wife. His father is in travel business and arranges trips to holy sites in Iran and Iraq. At present he is out of the country.

He alleged that his wife's mother went to police station to lodge a case under the Zina Hudood Ordinance against them. A large number of friends of Jafri were also present in the court premises to protect him in the wake of threats from the woman's family.

After recording the statement of the couple, the court asked police to provide them protection. The SHO of the Market police said that the woman had also told the court that her statement should be on the record that if any harm came to her or her husband, her mother and brother should be held responsible.

She also wanted custody of her three daughters who were living with her mother. The SHO said that the woman had sent her nikahnama to police by mail and then she came to the police station. He said that her mother earlier alleged that she had taken away Rs330,000 and jewellery from the house but later retracted her statement.