Dua Zahra case - parents' prayer for custody bears fruit
Pakistan
No one wants to leave their parents’ house and our court is open to all.
KARACHI (Dunya News) – The Sindh High Court has temporarily handed over Dua Zahra to her parents in an alleged abduction case on Friday.
In the case related to the alleged abduction of a minor girl, the custody case by the parents was heard in the Sindh High Court. During the hearing, the lawyer of Zaheer Ahmad told the court that this application was inadmissible and the judicial magistrate had already rejected the application related to the custody of the girl. The petition was also pending with the trial court and the petitioner still had the relevant forum, he pleaded.
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. 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.
Justice Iqbal Kalhoro called the girl and asked her name to which she replied, "my name is Dua Zahra. I was studying in seventh grade. My parents and sister are present in court and I want to go with my family.”
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 girl’s father Mehdi Kazmi what guarantee he would give to 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 Sindh High Court, while allowing the girl to temporarily go with her parents, said the decision of permanent handover of the girl would be decided by the trial court.
