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| April 14, 2006 | Friday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 15, 1427 |
Girl wants high court to arrange her marriage
PESHAWAR, April 13: A girl forced twice into prostitution by gangs of traffickers appealed to the Peshawar High Court on Thursday to arrange her marriage with a man who had rescued her from a brothel.
The girl is living in the women crisis centre here.
The man, Mohammad Rafiq Jaja, hailing from Sukkur, stated before a two-member bench that he was willing to marry the girl provided the marriage was arranged in the women crisis centre and not in her parents’ home in Nowshera as they had deceived them earlier.
The girl’s parents, who were present in the court, requested the bench that their daughter be handed over to them.
The girl, Shabnum, refused to go with her parents, fearing that they might kill her.
The bench, comprising Justice Qaim Jan Khan and Justice Said Maroof Khan, gave two weeks time to the parties to resolve the issue regarding the marriage and fixed the next hearing on April 27.
The court also directed that in the next hearing, the case should be placed before a bench headed by the Chief Justice.
Ms Shabnum had filed a habeas corpus petition in the court against the government decision to keep her in the crisis centre.
Justice Qaim Jan observed that the girl should be married in an honourable manner and it would be appropriate that Mr Rafiq sent his parents to her home. But Mr Rafiq said her parents were against their marriage, therefore he would prefer that the marriage was arranged in the crisis centre.
Ms Shabnum’s counsel stated that an adult girl could not be kept in a shelter house against her will. He said her parents might harm her if she was handed over to them.
Justice Rana Bagwandas had taken suo motu notice of the girl’s abduction last year. The girl had initially been kidnapped on July 2, 2001, from outside a polling station in the Pirpai village in Nowshera. Her parents had accused a woman councillor and five other people of kidnapping her.
The girl had then been allegedly sold and forced into prostitution.
She escaped from Rawalpindi last year and later, at a press conference, she requested the judiciary to punish her kidnappers who were acquitted by a trial court during her absence.
While the Supreme Court and the Peshawar High Court were hearing her cases, the girl again disappeared on Sep 19. More than three months ago, she was recovered from Sukkur and since then she is lodged in the women crisis centre.
Before the bench on Thursday, Mr Rafiq said he had rescued the girl from a brothel. He said he wanted to marry her because she was innocent and had been forced into prostitution.
The girl’s father, Ibad Khan, told the bench that Mr Rafiq was lying and his daughter had told her mother that he had bad character and had already married thrice.
The girl contradicted his statement and said she should be allowed to marry Mr Rafiq. She said if her marriage was not possible in the women’s shelter, the court should make arrangements for it.
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