LAHORE: The father of Dua Zahra, a young woman from Karachi who wed against her family’s wishes, submitted a petition to a court magistrate on Wednesday asking to transfer custody of his daughter to the Lahore branch of the Child Protection and Welfare Bureau (CPWB).
The same magistrate had earlier placed Zahra to Darul Aman because she claimed her parents had threatened her life.
The father, Syed Mehdi Ali Kazmi, argued via his attorney, Fahad Ahmad Siddiqui, that the girl’s application to attend Darul Aman was the outcome of yet another evil plot by Zaheer Ahmad, the girl’s supposed spouse.He claimed that Ahmad came up with the plan that after courts ordered the police in Sindh and Punjab to detain him and retrieve the little girl from his unauthorised care.
Instead of keeping her daughter at the Darul Aman, the petitioner requested that the court give the child protection bureau temporary custody of the youngster.
On Thursday, the application would be heard by Magistrate Rizwan Ahmad.
The girl went before the magistrate with a lawyer to ask for permission to be sent to the government shelter.
In addition to her life being in danger from her parents and other relatives, Zahra claimed that her marriage had become strained.
The applicant said that she left her husband’s home and spent the night before at a relative’s home. According to the girl, who claimed to have nowhere to live, the court should send her to Darul Aman for her own safety.
Magistrate Rizwan Ahmad approved the request and instructed the state prosecutor to see that the girl was transferred to Darul Aman of the city district administration pending further instructions.
