Sindh's law not applicable if marriage solemnised in Punjab, rules court

A court has cancelled an FIR filed against Nimra Kazmi's husband, Najeeb Shahrukh, for allegedly abducting her from her Karachi residence in April and solemnising underage marriage with her in Punjab.

Judicial Magistrate (East) Fahmida Sahowal ruled that sections 3, 4, and 5 of the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2013 are not applicable in the case as the alleged underage marriage was solemnised in Punjab. As for her alleged abduction, the court said, Nimra, being an independent girl, in a statement recorded under the Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), denied being kidnapped by the accused.

Kazmi had gone missing from her Saudabad home in April this year and was later traced to Dera Ghazi Khan where she claimed she had solemnised a free-will marriage with Shahrukh. The magistrate passed the order on the final charge sheet filed under Section 173 of the CrPC.

The order came at a time when a similar case involving the alleged abduction and underage marriage of Dua Zahra – a teenage girl who went missing from her Malir Halt home on April 16 and was found to have married a man in Lahore – is pending disposal.

Both the girls had been declared free to decide their fate by courts. However, Zahra's case took a new turn when a medical board put her age between 15 and 16 years and the subsequent probe revealed that her purported husband was in Karachi the day she had gone missing. Contrary to the previous stance that the abduction and underage marriage charges were not proven, the IO informed a sessions court last week that he had approached the home department for permission to travel to Lahore to arrest Zaheer Ahmed for allegedly abducting and solemnising underage marriage with her.

In the Nimra case, the investigating officer, DSP Aftab Alam, filed the final charge sheet stating that the offence of kidnapping a woman with intent to rape as defined under Section 365-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) was not made out in the light of Kazmi's statement, in which she denied her parents' allegation of being abducted by her husband, Shahrukh, and she, being an adult, decided to travel to Punjab and marry the man of her free will.

However, the IO opined that Shahrukh, taking the benefit of the girl being 17 years of age — below the minimum age of 18 years for girls to get married in Sindh under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 — lured her to Punjab with the intent of marrying her. Therefore, sections 3, 4, and 5 are applicable in the case.

Shahrukh is out on bail. Six absconding accused, including Haseena Bibi, the alleged organiser of the marriage, Fida Hussain, Nikah Khuwan (marriage officiator), Muhammad Iqbal and Muhammad Irshad, eyewitnesses to the marriage, were put in the charge sheet's column-II with red ink, meaning they are offenders evading the law under Section 512 of the CrPC.

In a written order, Magistrate Sahowal observed that the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 is applicable only in the province of Sindh and the marriage was solemnised in Tehsil Taunsa Sharif; hence, no cause for action over the marriage arose in Sindh.

Secondly, Nimra in her statement under Section 164 of the CrPC stated on oath that she was neither abducted nor instigated by anyone to take such a step, but on the contrary she, being sui juris (an independent girl), left the house of her parents and went to Punjab to contract marriage with Shahrukh of her own accord, the magistrate went on.

Since the age of the girl is between 17 and 18 years as per her ossification test and that she had denied being kidnapped by anyone, Section 365-B was also not attracted in the case, ruled the court.

Discussing the merits of the case, the magistrate noted that the investigating officer could not collect any evidence to show that any offence was committed. On the other hand, the complainant expressed complete satisfaction with the investigation into the case. The court cancelled the FIR against all accused persons as “C Class”.