HYDERABAD, July 18: A young couple was produced before civil judge and judicial magistrate Shagufta A. Kaka on Tuesday in a Zina Hudood Ordinance case. The judge remanded the man, Jamshed Mallah, to police custody for three days.

The statement of the allegedly abducted girl, Naima Jumani, would be recorded on Wednesday.

Police arrested the couple on Sunday in Sehwan Sharif when they were boarding a Hyderabad-bound bus.

They were handed over to the Bhittai Nagar police as a case was lodged against Jamshed Mallah and three others on the complaint of Umair Jumani, Naima’s elder brother.

The judge also issued notice to the accused on an application of police, requesting the court to record the girl’s statement under section 164 CrPC.

“Soon after we were detained, I was blindfolded by police and I do not know whether Naima was taken by police.

“The girl’s family is putting pressure on me to divorce her but I have refused as we have married of our own free will”, Jamshed told Dawn.

He said that he had met Naima as they used to travel in the same bus from college.

He said that after examination he had no contact with her.

Appearing tired, he was quite upset because of criminal proceedings against him.

“Initially, I refused to meet her when she called me to meet her at the Al-Manzar restaurant on the bank of the Indus River on Thursday last.

“I told her that I am a poor man and she would not be happy with me after marriage.

“She telephoned me again and started crying.

“Then I met her and brought her to my house in Jamshoro”, said Jamshed, a student of intermediate at the Sachal Sarmast Commerce College.

The girl is studying in the Government Zubeda Girls’ College.

He said that she had told him that if he did not marry her, she would commit suicide by jumping into the Indus River.

He then married her on July 15, before a judicial magistrate but he was being pressurised to divorce her.

He said that her parents had gone to the US and she was living with her brother in Gulistan-i-Sajjad area of the city.

Jamshed owns two music shops in Jamshoro.

Police picked up Jamshed’s brother Waheed, his brother-in-law Akbar and Shaukat and his maternal nephew.

They have now been released.

The girl appeared quite harassed and was screaming in the courtroom while a lady ASI kept comforting her.

She was unable to walk steadily and collapsed in court.

Despite repeated attempts by media she refused to speak.

“I will speak tomorrow in the court when I will record my statement”, she told Dawn.

Her elder brother Umair Jumani submitted before the court that his sister had been kidnapped first and then Jamshed solemnised Nikah with her.

He was told by the judge that his sister’s statement would be recorded on Wednesday in an open court.

He said that his sister was not a US citizen and that only his parents had gone to America on a visit visa.