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Today's Paper | May 05, 2024

Published 30 Apr, 2022 09:26pm

Judge dissatisfied with Karachi police's probe into Nimra Kazmi abduction

A Karachi judicial magistrate on Saturday found discrepancies in the case record pertaining to the alleged abduction of a teenage girl, Nimra Kazmi, who had purportedly solemnised a free-will marriage in Punjab.

Kazmi, said to be a 16-year-old resident of Karachi's Saudabad, allegedly went missing last week and had later emerged in Punjab, saying she had left her parents’ home of her own choice.

Read more: Police claim missing Karachi teens married of ‘own free will’

The investigating officer (IO) of the case submitted a report today regarding progress in the investigation, including documentary evidence. Judicial Magistrate (East) Javed Ahmed Korejo pointed out that there were discrepancies in the nikahnama (marriage certificate) and call data record (CDR) produced by the IO.

The judge noted that the girl was shown present in her house on April 20, as per the CDR, and questioned then how could she have solemnised a free-will marriage in Punjab's Taunsa Sharif town on April 18, as mentioned in the marriage certificate.

He observed that there was a visible difference in the dates of the CDR and marriage certificate, adding that prima facie the police had failed to make any real efforts to arrest the suspects involved in her alleged abduction.

The magistrate further remarked that the IO had carried the probe superficially instead of thoroughly investigating the matter, had merely obtained the purported marriage certificate and submitted its photocopy to the court.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the report, the magistrate directed the IO to submit a detailed and comprehensive investigation report on the next date and adjourned the hearing till May 9.

Parents complain about police

Kazmi’s parents had approached the court against the police officials, claiming that they were not cooperating in investigating the alleged abduction of their daughter.

The parents had last week complained that their daughter had mysteriously gone missing from the Saudabad neighbourhood.

They had further said that a video message of their daughter was suddenly posted on social networking websites after the incident had triggered a debate.

In the video message, Nimra was seen telling that she had left her parents’ home at her will and later married someone out of her own choice in Dera Ghazi Khan, the parents had added.

They had informed the court that the Lahore police had later claimed to have recovered their daughter, who was under 18. They had also complained that the police officials were not allowing them to meet their daughter.

The parents had pleaded the court to summon the station house officer (SHO) of the Saudabad police station and ask him about the investigation into the matter, arguing that how could their daughter be legally allowed to get married when she was a minor.

They had also requested the court to order the SHO and other senior officials to allow their meeting with their daughter.

A case regarding Kazmi's alleged abduction was lodged against unknown suspects at the Saudabad police station on the complaint of her family.

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