KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Wednesday allowed an underage girl, who had contracted free-will marriage last year after converting from Christianity to Islam, to leave a shelter home and live with her parents.

While allowing the application of Arzoo seeking reunion with her parents after spending over a year in the shelter home, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha directed her parents not to pressurise their daughter to change her religion, allow the girl to adopt her own life choices and not cause any physical or mental harm to her.

The bench further asked the girl’s parents to produce her before the SHO concerned after every three months until she reached the age of 18 years and the police officer must certify that she was well-treated by her parents and communicate the same to the SHC through its member inspection team (MIT).

In November 2020, the SHC had sent the girl to a shelter home after finding her marriage invalid for being underage as she had refused to go with her parents and insisted on going to her ‘husband’s house.

Stops her from meeting putative husband

The SHC had observed that prima facie it was not possible for her to enter into a legally valid marriage under the Sindh Marriages Restraint Act (SCMRA) 2013 since she was under 18 and directed the police to take action against her alleged husband Syed Ali Azhar and others responsible for the underage marriage after a medical board had confirmed that she was around 14 years of age at the time of marriage.

On Tuesday, Arzoo sent an application to the SHC from the shelter home seeking permission to go with her parents after pondering for over a year on her life choices.

When the bench took up the matter for hearing on Wednesday, the girl was produced in court and her lawyer Nizar Tanoli argued that since her client had converted to Islam she cannot be returned to her parents as they were Christians.

However, Jibran Nasir, the counsel for the parents of the girl, opposed this plea. When the judges asked Arzoo whether she had converted to Islam of her own freewill, she replied in the affirmative.

Replying to another question of the bench, she said that she was willing to return to her parents’ home.

The girl’s parents were also present during the proceedings and they said that they would welcome their daughter back to their home and undertook that they would not pressurise her to change her religion from Islam and would allow her to practise her religion freely and adopt her own life choices in this respect.

They assured the bench that they would not cause any harm to their daughter for converting to Islam and for initially deciding not to go with them.

“In the light of the above, we hereby direct that Mst. Arzoo Fatima be returned from Panah shelter home to her parents’ home where she will reside and be looked after by them,” the court order said.

The bench further said that the girl would not be allowed to meet her alleged husband, who had been facing criminal proceedings under the SCMRA and for the offence of rape.

Initially, Arzoo had petitioned the SHC seeking a restraining order against the registration of a kidnapping case against her spouse, in-laws and others by her family at the Frere police station and in October last year the high court had directed the police not to make any arrest and provide protection to the couple.

However, the parents of the girl submitted that she was 13 and had forcibly been converted to Islam after being abducted. Thereafter, the incident of alleged abduction, conversion and underage marriage had sparked protests from human rights bodies and thus, the SHC had ordered constitution of a medical board to determine her age.

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2021