PESHAWAR, Jan 24: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday directed the administration of Mohmand agency to record the statement of a girl after conflicting claims were made about her abduction.

Amjid Ali, assistant political agent (APA) of Lower Mohmand, told a two-member bench of the court that he had sent a jirga to the alleged kidnappers. The girl told the jirga that she had not been kidnapped and that she had married the accused of her own free will, he said.

The bench, comprising Justice Talat Qayyum Qureshi and Justice Qaim Jan Khan, directed the assistant political agent to summon the girl to his office and ask her about the issue. The court ordered him that her statement should not be recorded in the presence of her alleged in-laws.

Wasil Khan, brother of the girl, disputed the administration’s claim, saying that she had been kidnapped in the jurisdiction of Lund Khwar police station in Mardan.

He said that his sister had done her MSc in Botany and was currently doing her Bachelor’s of Education from the University of Peshawar. He said that on October 19, 2006, he was taking his sister back home from the university when the accused attacked them in Lund Khwar area and forcibly took his sister away.

Mr Wasil lodged an FIR lodged with Lund Khwar police station against Naqab Shah, Aslam Khan and Zor Talab, sons of Gula Khan, and Pervez -- all of whom are his distant relatives and residents of the same area.

After the police failure to recover the girl, Mr Wasil sent a letter to Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan seeking his help. He claimed that his sister had been shifted to Mohmand agency where the accused had taken refugee at the residence of an influential person Sher Zaman.

The chief justice had converted the letter into a petition and ordered action.