Dua Zehra’s case had spread like wildfire in Pakistan. Social media wanted answers as to how a girl ended up from Karachi to Lahore, got married, and why she had refused to return home to her parents.
A petition regarding the alleged abduction of the teen was heard today by a bench headed by Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro. The Sindh High Court temporarily handed over Dua Zahra to her parents in an alleged abduction case on Friday (6th January 2023).
During today’s proceedings, the teenage expressed her wish to go with her parents before the court. To this, Zaheer’s lawyer urged the court to stop the Karachi girl from going abroad.
Zaheer Ahmad’s lawyer further said the petitioner should approach the trial court as the girl was sent to a shelter home on court orders and was not kept in the custody.
“Zaheer Ahmed has Confessed to Crimes in Dua Zehra Case” Claims Iqrar-ul-Hassan
She was the main witness in the case, he added. He said the parents had held five meetings with the girl and they asked her whether she wanted to go home or not. In this case, Zaheer should also be allowed to meet the girl, he argued.
Zaheer’s lawyer appealed that the girl should be stopped from being taken out and the judge replied everyone wanted to go to their parents’ house. “No one wants to leave their parents’ house and our court is open to all. The girl is young and she does not want to go to a shelter home,” the judge said.
The court asked the girl’s father Mehdi Kazmi what guarantee he would give to the court. The court, while addressing the girl’s mother, said: “We are handing over the girl to you and now you have a huge responsibility on your shoulders.”
The SHC handed over the temporary custody of the girl to her parents against surety bonds worth Rs. 1 million. The court disposed of the petition and handed over the case to the trial court to decide on permanent custody of the Karachi girl.
Backstory
Dua Zehra disappeared from Karachi, leaving her parents to wonder whether if their beloved daughter was kidnapped, or worse. Turns out, Zehra was in Lahore. Not just that, she had married a boy named Zaheer.
Her father, Syed Mehdi Kazmi, challenged the nuptials under the Child Marriage Act. He called out Zaheer and alleged that this is not possible and surely this was a trap set by Zaheer and some other men involved in this disgusting honey trap set.
After several weeks, Zaheer Ahmed admitted that the marriage was a trap and that he was involved along with others in trapping Dua Zehra, calling her from Karachi to Lahore.
Ahmed and others were booked by the police for kidnapping an underage girl from Karachi. According to the police, Ahmed kidnapped the underage girl in the Al-Falah Colony area with the abetment of other co-accused and married her in Lahore.
In July, the Lahore court allowed Dua to live with her husband. The Model Town court, while issuing a verdict on the police’s plea to send the girl (14 years old according to her father’s claim and 18-year-old as per her own) to Dar-ul-Aman, rejected the police request and allowed Dua Zehra to live with her husband Zaheer Ahmed.
She was then produced before SHC where the court ordered a medical examination of the girl. The medical examiner stated that she is aged between 16 and to 17-year-old.
She was then shifted to a shelter home on SHC orders.
We have yet to see what the future holds for this minor.
Until then, stay tuned to WOW360.