On Wednesday, a local court gave the investigating officer (IO) in the case of Dua Zehra more time to submit a final challenge after new evidence indicated that the minor had been kidnapped from Karachi and illegally married to Zaheer Ahmed in Punjab.
Zaheer, his mother, twenty other relatives, and priest Hafiz Ghulam Mustafa are accused of taking Dua from Karachi, transporting her to Punjab, and solemnizing her illegal child marriage.
IO DSP Shaukat Ali Shahani was due to file the final challan against the detained and absconding suspects on Wednesday when the matter came up before Judicial Magistrate (East) Aftab Bhugio.
While rejecting the IO’s “C” class investigation report, which requested case dismissal, the magistrate also directed the provincial health secretary to ensure a new “age estimate test” of Dua Zehra to establish her true age.
First, IO Shahani filed an application claiming that a police team from Karachi had already traveled to Lahore to arrest the putative groom, Zaheer, and other suspects who had assisted and arranged the child marriage and harbored the pair afterward.
He added that the police had been unable to apprehend Zaheer and the other fugitives, and asked for 10 days to apprehend them and bring them to Karachi, where the final challan could be filed once the inquiry was complete.
The magistrate granted the prosecution and IO Shahani’s request to postpone the hearing until August 1 so that the higher-ups in the police department could submit a final challan.
While the IO had previously claimed that the case involving Dua’s kidnapping and child marriage was fake, on July 16 he testified before a sessions court that the young girl had been kidnapped from Karachi and then moved to Lahore, where Zaheer had solemnised an illegal child marriage with her. The sessions judge had previously ordered the AIG (investigation) to remove IO Shahani from the case for being “unprofessional and incompetent,” and to replace him with a DSP with experience investigating similar crimes.
Mahnur is MS(development Studies)Student at NUST University, completed BS Hons in Eng Literature. Content Writer, Policy analyst, Climate Change specialist, Teacher, HR Recruiter.
