KARACHI: Police on Monday night claimed to have recovered 13-year-old Arzoo after the Sindh High Court directed the law enforcement agency earlier in the day to recover the Christian girl and place her at a shelter home within three days.

Acting Karachi police chief Arif Hanif confirmed that the girl was recovered safely from the metropolis and her purported husband was arrested.

He added that the girl was being moved to a shelter home as per the high court’s directions.

He said the suspect would be presented before a court on Tuesday (today).

Earlier in the day, a two-judge bench headed by Justice K.K. Agha passed an order on a petition filed by the Sindh government seeking clarification of the court’s Oct 27 order under which the SHC had restrained the Frere police from making any arrest in connection with an FIR against spouse and in-laws of Arzoo and directed the Preedy SHO to provide protection to the newly wedded wife.

SHC fixes Thursday for taking up Christian girl’s actual age, conversion to Islam and marriage issues

Arzoo had sought a court injunction against the registration of an FIR against her spouse and in-laws by her family at the Frere police station by filing a constitutional petition in the SHC.

She submitted in the petition that she converted to Islam of her free will and also asked her family members to embrace Islam but they refused.

She submitted that she contracted marriage with Syed Ali Azhar of her own will without duress and fear and because of it her family members had registered a kidnapping case against her spouse and in-laws.

She stated in the petition that she already intimated the Frere SHO about her conversion to Islam as well as her marriage with Azhar after obtaining permission and affidavit of free will before the competent authority. However, her intimation despite being duly received by the official of the Frere police station did not get acknowledgment.

Advocate General Salman Talibuddin submitted that the court may clarify its Oct 27 order that it did not restrain the Preedy SHO if he may consider necessary to ensure the safety and protection of Arzoo by placing her in the care of Darul Aman.

DSP-Legal Raza Mian submitted in an affidavit that after obtaining the order from the court, Azhar had taken Arzoo from the address given in the title of the petition to an undisclosed location and the Preedy SHO, who had been directed to provide protection to Arzoo, was unable to comply with the same.

The DSP expressed the fear that Arzoo was being held against her will as the free-will affidavit submitted showed her as 18 years of age, while according to her date of birth, which was July 31, 2007, she was actually 13 when the affidavit was signed and the so-called marriage contracted.

The bench after hearing the arguments observed that the dispute was twofold, including the age of Arzoo.

The court observed that the second issue was whether she had converted of her own free will from Christianity to Islam and that being the case she had entered into a valid marriage with Azhar.

The court observed that naturally the court had to decide first the issue of age as no person under 18 can get married according to the law prevailing in the country.

The court observed that the matter was fixed for urgent hearing as such petitioner Arzoo and her alleged spouse were not present.

The court observed that police had little time to trace them out though it was surprising that despite the protection order the police were not able to keep an eye on them and did not know their whereabouts.

The court directed Anti-Violent Crime Cell SSP to ensure that officers under his command trace the petitioner and as and when they find her place her in a shelter home for her security.

The court observed that the petitioner shall be produced in court. It observed that it was expected that the petitioner be recovered and placed before a shelter home within three days positively.

The court issued notices to all parties including Arzoo’s spouse on the application of the police and adjourned the hearing till Nov 5.

Last week, a judicial magistrate had dismissed an application filed by the family of Arzoo seeking to send her to a shelter home from the custody of her Muslim husband.

Police had booked Azhar, the husband of Arzoo, and arrested his brothers, Syed Shariq Ali, Syed Mohsin Ali, and a friend, Danish, for allegedly abducting the underage Christian girl, purportedly forcibly converting her and marrying her off to a Muslim man.

The incident of alleged abduction has sparked protests from human rights groups against her alleged forced conversion and underage marriage with a Muslim man.

KDA retirees’ case

The SHC came down hard on the top management of Karachi Development Authority (KDA) for flouting its orders and filing flawed statements about payment of post-retirement benefits to its retired employees and issued show-cause notices to the director general and other senior officials.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Nadeem Akhtar also directed the KDA chief and other severing and former senior officials to be in attendance along with replies to the show-cause notices on Nov 20.

The bench observed the KDA has not only been defying its directives but also miserably failed to discharge its statutory obligation and deprived around 1,000 retired employees of unalienable fundamental right.

“It is even more unfortunate that despite alleged financial scarcity of funds, the senior and top management of KDA has been receiving full salary and allowances regularly and there could not be a better example than this discrimination against those arguably most in need of a stable source of income,” it added.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2020