The prime accused, his accomplices are finally brought
to the book for the alleged kidnapping of a minor girl

After taking cognizance of a charge sheet in the alleged kidnapping of the minor daughter of Mehdi Ali Kazmi, submitted by the police under section 173 of Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC), a special court dealing with gender-based violence has cancelled an interim bail granted to prime accused Zaheer Ahmed, the alleged husband of the minor girl, and his elder brother Shabeer Ahmed besides issuing a non-bailable arrest warrants of their mother Noor Muneer and and other absconders.

The court, however, dropped the charge of rape that was earlier included in the charge sheet under section 375 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The trial court, acting on another application submitted by complainant Mehdi Kazmi, ordered medico legal examination of the minor girl who is currently lodged at a shelter home in Karachi. However, the Sindh High Court on September 1, 2022, on being challenged by the accused, suspended the operation of the trial order till its (SHC) final decision on the application of the accused.

Upon her shifting to Karachi, the trial court had restrained the print, electronic, digital and social media from disclosing the identity of the minor girl and instructed that her name should not be mentioned anywhere.

The police investigations in the case, which spanned over four months, brought to fore that contrary to the statements of the accused made earlier before the various judicial forums as well as on social media and the abductees own statements, the call record data (CDR) of the accused proved their presence in and around Karachi before and on the day of the incident (April 16, 2022).

The police claimed in the charge sheet that one of the accused, Shabeer Ahmed, during interrogations had admitted that on April 16 he along with his brother Zaheer Ahmed came to Karachi for taking the minor girl which contradicted the earlier statements made by prime accused Zaheer Ahmed who had denied that he was present in Karachi on April 16.

As per the CDR, the location of mobile phone number 0318-0410018, registered in the name of Noor Muneer (mother of the two accused) and in the use of accused Zaheer Ahmed, was traced in Karachi on April 16 as well as on April 7 and April 9, 2022.

Also as per the CDR, the location of mobile phone number 0307-4007274, registered in the name of accused Shabeer Ahmed, was also traced in Karachi on April 16.

Regarding the inclusion of various sections of different penal laws, the trial court observed that it appears that Investigation Officer (IO) inserted section 363 PPC because the victim was taken away from her natural guardianship/parents without their consent; Section 364-A PPC was inserted because the victim, who is under the age of 14 as per the birth certificate documents available on record, was kidnapped for the purpose of lust; Section 368 PPC as the accused, knowing the fact that the victim was kidnapped, still wrongfully confined her with them at different places; Section 375 (vi) PPC and Section 3 (ii) of Prevention of Trafficking in Persons (PTIP) Act 2018 as the accused persons committed an offence of trafficking against a child, Section 4 of PTIP Act 2018 as the accused persons committed an offence of trafficking in person against a child with the help of an “organised criminal group”, Section 3 of Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 as the accused being a male above eighteen years of age contracted a marriage with a child and Section 4 of Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 as the accused persons facilitated child marriage.

The police has presented the charge sheet against nine accused that include Asghar Ali, Khurram Mehmood as witnesses to the nikah, the nikahkhuwan Hafiz Ghulam Mustafa besides Noor Muneer, Muneer Hussain Lughmani, Muhammad Waseem and Muhammad Asif Umar for helping the accused prime persons Zaheer Ahmed and Shabeer Ahmed and sheltering them from initiation of criminal proceedings against them.

The police interrogated 25 other accused but later released them due to insufficient evidence against them. Accused Zaheer Ahmed and Shabeer Ahmed were granted interim bail on July 25 after they joined the investigation and the trial court kept extending the same till August 30.

The police mentioned in the charge sheet that when the IO went to Union Council-100 Babo Sabo Lahore for the verification of nikahnama, which had gone viral few days after the disappearance of the minor girl from Karachi, the Secretary Muhammad Afzal Hussain stated in writing that there was no entry of nikhanam in their register.

It must be mentioned here that the minor girl who had gone missing from an alley near her home in Shah Faisal Colony on April 16, in her two statements given to police and to a judicial magistrate in Lahore had claimed herself to be 18 years old and stated that she had contracted marriage with accused Zaheer of her own free will.

After her recovery along with her purported husband on June 5, she also made a statement before a two-member bench of the SHC claiming that nobody had kidnapped her and she had gone to Lahore on her own on a hired cab and contracted marriage of her own free will.

An ossification test was then ordered by the SHC that declared her to be around 17 years of age and after her brief meeting with her parents, the court then had set her on liberty to wherever she wanted to  go and whomever she wants to live with. She and her purported husband had then returned to Lahore.

However, her second medical test was conducted after her father approached the Supreme Court which allowed him to file application for the second test in the trial court. The second test conducted by a special medical board declared her age nearer to 15 years and she was shifted to Karachi on the orders of Sindh High Court on July 27.