PESHAWAR, Feb 6: A man and a woman who got married at their own will are on the run to escape 'honour killing', and have sought protection from the government.
The woman, Rabia Saeed, married Mohammad Shehzad in Kohat in November last year, and her brother registered a case against them and members of Shehzad's family under the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979.
The two were granted pre-arrest bail by the Peshawar High Court on Jan 18, but they could not return to their native Kohat district and had to stay with their relatives in Islamabad and Peshawar.
Ms Rabia told Dawn that she had been receiving life threats from her brother, who had registered the FIR against them and their relatives.
Shehzad claimed that his close family members, including his mother Bashehzadi Saeed, his married sister Sameena Saeed and brothers Mohammad Faraz and Mohammad Shoaib had also been charged in the FIR registered at the Kohat City police station under sections 10, 11 and 16 of the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979.
"As my parents are not alive we used to live with our paternal aunt in Kohat and she treated me very harshly," Ms Rabia said.
She claimed that her aunt and brother wanted her to marry a rich person due to which she took refugee in the house of Shehzad. She added that she had not been abducted by her husband or the in-laws and had married of her own free will.
She claimed that she had been severely beaten and also hit with scissors by her aunt when she refused to marry the person she had chosen for her. She showed some injury marks on her hands, saying that such brutal treatment forced her to leave the house.
"My in-laws are noble people and because of me they are now facing problems," she added.
Shehzad's sister Sameena said that her two daughters had to skip their exams because she could not go to Kohat. She added that although she had nothing to do with the case, she was also charged in the FIR due to which her government job was at stake. She is a teacher at the Government Girls Middle School Miramkhel, Kohat.
The families of the couple were close to each other as Shehzad's mother and Rabia's aunt worked in a government-run vocational centre, Al-Nisa Centre, in Kohat.
Initially, Rabia's brother Tufail Shah registered the FIR against Shehzad and members of his family and alleged that they had abducted Rabia.
The woman appeared before the magistrate and recorded her statement under section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, wherein she said that she had contracted nikkah with Shehzad and had not been abducted.
All the family members moved the high court seeking bail before arrest. A single-judge bench of the court directed them to appear before the concerned court in Kohat. A few days later, they again filed a pre-arrest bail petition, requesting the court to entertain their case as they had been facing life threats and could not visit Kohat.