Pakistan
Missing girl Dua Zehra's video statement emerges; raises concerns
“I am an adult and my correct age is 18 years," Dua said in the video statement.
Lahore: A video statement of Karachi’s missing girl Dua Zehra, 14, has been surfaced in which she stated that she was not abducted and left home on her own—revealing that she married Zaheer Ahmed willingly, a resident of Lahore.
According to details, the teenage girl accused her family for forcing her of an alleged marriage with her cousin named Zain Abudeen.
As per the video statement, the teenager didn’t take anything precious along with her while leaving home—denying being 14 years old.
“I am 18 years old and an adult,” she said adding that she is living a blissful life with her husband and urged not to be bothered.
The girl also submitted an affidavit in favour of her purported husband as per the nikahnama, in which she has confirmed her marriage on April 17.
Dua has also accused her father and cousin of barging into her house, in a bid to kidnap her.
“My father and Abideen storm into my house and verbally abused and threatened me and my spouse," Dua stated in her complaint.
She said that her neighbours foiled the kidnapping bid. Maintaining that she wants to stay with her husband, she demanded action against her family under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). Moreover, Dua also filed a separate petition against harassment at a district and sessions court.
The couple were reportedly staying at Zaheer's paternal uncle's home.
In another video of Dua and her husband, the girl stated the exact same lines with people terming the video ‘scripted statement’—raising serious concerns.
Soon after the video messages surfaced, Dua's father Mehdi Ali Kazmi, in a press conference, debunked her claims questioning how his daughter could be 18 years old when he had not even been married for 18 years.
“I tied knot on May 7, 2005,” he said, sharing her daughter’s birth certificate revealing April 27, 2008 as her birth date.
"She is saying what she is being instructed to say,” he stressed.
During the presser, the father asked authorities to either bring Dua back to them or shift her to a child protection centre, demanding a thorough investigation.
In the meantime, Dua's mother said that as a lawyer's daughter “I am well aware that the marriage certificate is illegal”.
"The nikahnama does not have the seal of the person who formalized the marriage," she added.
There is a strong possibility that my daughter is being pressurized into giving such statements, stated Dua’s mother.
She further alleged that the person whose name is written on the marriage certificate has also refuted reports of solemnising the marriage.
The Case
Dua Zehra Kazmi, 14, went missing outside her home in the Golden Town area of Karachi on April 16 has been recovered from Lahore nearly after 10 days—on April 25.
The police started a hunt for her on the complaint of her father who appeared in a TV show.
As per the new updates in the case of abduction and marriage of minor girl, Sindh police provided marriage certificate of Dua to Lahore police. While, the address on the marriage certificate turned out to be fake.
When police reached the spot, it was revealed that on the mentioned address a man named Dr. Abdul Hafeez has set up a dispensary in a house located in Sher Shah Colony Raiwind.
The certificate also revealed the names of two witnesses identified as Asghar Ali and Shabbir Ahmed, whose cell phones were constantly off.
Officials privy to the development said that, the girl got married on April 17 in Lahore and in marriage certificate, her age has been written as 18 years with Rs 50,000 as dowry.
It is pertinent to mention here that as a minor from Sindh her marriage is an offence of Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929 and Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961, according to which at the time of registering a Nikkah a female must be 16 years or above of age and male must be 18 years or above.