KARACHI: A sessions court today (Thursday) has granted bail to the key suspect in a case pertaining to the alleged underage marriage of Arzoo, a teenage Christian girl who was allegedly converted and married to a Muslim man.
The district police detained and booked the main suspect Syed Ali Azhar, cleric Qazi Abdul Rasool Naqshbandi the Justice of Peace who issued the marriage certificate, and facilitators.
The matter came up before the additional district and sessions judge (South) Faiza Khalil today (Thursday), who pronounced the verdict on an application filed by Azhar, seeking bail after arrest.
The judge allowed his application and granted him bail against a surety of Rs500,000. However, according to the defence counsel, Azhar could not be immediately released due to delays in verifying the surety.
Earlier, the defence counsel had argued in the bail plea that his client was innocent and falsely implicated in the case. He further argued that the girl had also testified before the court that she converted to Islam out of her own choice.
On the other hand, Jibran Nasir — the lawyer for the complainant — vehemently opposed the bail plea of the main suspect. In a Tweet, he said, “There are good, bad and at times even dark days for justice.”
There are good, bad and at times even dark days for Justice.
— M. Jibran Nasir (@MJibranNasir) December 17, 2020
The same court also confirmed the pre-arrest bail granted to the cleric Abdul Rasool Naqshbandi, Justice of Peace Azharuddin and Advocate Mahmood Hasan, who have been booked for allegedly facilitating and officiating the underage marriage.
