Lahore High Court's Judge Mr.Justice Raja Muhammad Shahid Abbasi has set aside the judgement of District & Session Judge Faisalabad and validated the marriage of Maira Shahbaz with Muhammad Naqqash because she is neither underage nor forcibly married. The petitioner Naqqash who challenged the judgement of Session court at principal seat of Lahore High Court and claimed that she is his legal wife and she had embraced Islam. He also produced "Nikah Nama" (Matrimonial deed) and age certificate before the court and claimed that she is 19 year old.
District and Sessions Court Faisalabad which ordered that Maira Shahbaz be removed from Mohamad Nakash's house and placed in Dar-ul-Amaan( a women and girl's refuge), pending further investigations.
After the judgement of Lahore High Court,Now Muhammad Naqqash is entitled to get Maira from Dar-ul-Aman Faisalabad and take her to his home where she was living since April.
But Maria's parents and Lawyer Khalil Tahir Sandhu, who represented Maira in court, told ACN: "It is unbelievable. What we have seen today is an Islamic judgement. The arguments we put forward were very strong and cogent."
In the courtroom, Mr Tahir Sandhu detailed 11 arguments in support of his client, chief of which involves an official birth certificate showing Maira was only 13 last October, the month of her alleged marriage to Mr Nakash.
Mr Tahir Sandhu also argued that the marriage certificate was faked, citing evidence denouncing the document given by the Muslim cleric whose name appears on the document.
The lawyer also quoted from state law in Pakistan to show that, as Maira is underage, she can only change her religion with her mother's permission.
Mr Tahir Sadhu said: "I became so upset as the proceedings went on, I feared I might be asked to leave the court room."
The lawyer said he would appeal the decision, first at Lahore High Court and, if this fails, in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.heir counsel Lala Robin Daniel "With this ruling, no Christian girl in Pakistan is safe."
Witnesses said Maira was in tears in the court today and afterwards her clearly distressed mother, Nighat, declined to speak to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), the Catholic charity which has been closely following the case.
In a case that has renewed focus on the persecution of Pakistan's Christian minority, the Lahore High Court ruled on Tuesday that Maira Shahbaz had willingly converted to Islam and married Mohamad Nakash.
The girl 's family claimed that she was kidnapped in April by Mr Nakash and his two accomplices from near her home in the city of Faisalabad. If the ruling is not reversed, Ms Shahbaz will have to return to Mr Nakash's home from the shelter she was temporarily placed in.
Local NGOs and civil Society activists say it is not true that Around 1,000 Christian and Hindu women are abducted each year in Pakistan and typically forced to convert to Islam, according to the Movement for Solidarity and Peace.This allegation is against the ground realities
Tags:
judgement