KARACHI: A judicial magistrate has ordered registration of a case against three persons for allegedly subjecting a woman to domestic violence.

Judicial Magistrate (South) Waheed Ahmed took cognizance of the complaint lodged by the victim, a resident of Bihar Colony, under the relevant sections of the Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act, 2013.

He observed that after the filing of the instant complaint, the respondent, Ahmed Raza, had divorced her, which reflected his conduct towards her.

Therefore, the magistrate took cognizance of the offence under Section 5(b), (f), (g), (j) & (o) read with Section 6 of the Domestic Violence (Prevention & Protection) Act, 2013.

He also ordered registration of a case against the complainant’s husband Ahmed Raza, brother-in-law Abdul Munaf and mother-in-law Farida Siddique under the same sections of the Act.

The magistrate directed them to furnish a surety of Rs10,000 each and cautioned that in case of failure they would be taken into custody and remanded in jail custody.

Earlier, the victim’s counsel, Bahzad Akbar, stated that his client was residing with her husband and in-laws in a shared house since their marriage solemnised six years ago.

He alleged that soon after the marriage, she found out that her father-in-law was mentally unstable and wandered around the house stark naked, adding that he would also walk into her room and try to hug her, forcing her to lock herself in a bathroom.

He said that on complaining about this, her husband as well as in-laws not only used abusive language but also inflicted severe injuries on her. Fearing for her and her minor daughter’s safety, the complainant left the house of her husband and began residing again with her parents, added Advocate Akbar.

The complainant said her husband divorced her after she approached the court against them.

On the other hand, the counsel for the accused denied the allegations leveled against his clients. He alleged that the complainant had left the house of her husband without any plausible reason and filed a suit for conjugal rights.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2022