LHC rejects plea to place one of Taxila married girls on ECL

One of the two girls, who had tied the knot in Taxila did not appear before the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench on Tuesday despite the orders after which further hearing was adjourned till July 24 (Friday).

24NewsHD TV channel reported on Tuesday that the court has ordered both the parties to be present on the next hearing and Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan rejected the prosecutor’s request to place the name of Ali Aakash, formerly known as Asma Bibi, on exit control list (ECL). The court also directed officials to submit the medical report of the couple.

Earlier during the hearing, the counsel for Aakash informed the court that he could not appear before the court because of being a suspected coronavirus patient.

However, the court was not happy with that and ordered to present the coronavirus report while suspending the hearing for a brief period.

When the proceedings were resumed, the prosecutor argued that it wasn’t possible that Aakash got infected as Aakash was tested on the very day of appearing before the court during the previous hearing.

Also, the Taxila Police Station SHO informed that the court that the houses of both Asma and Neha had been found to be locked, adding that the two were currently in Lahore.

Hearing the arguments, the court ordered to present both the parties in person on the next hearing and the coronavirus report in the case of Aakash.

On July 15, the LHC had ordered the officials to conduct a medical test of the two girls by forming a four-member board.

During the hearing, Aakash told the court that he was a male and having a married life. Similarly, Neha said Aakash was her husband and a complete male.

Earlier, it was reported that the two girls from Taxila had tied the knot officially through court marriage by tricking the judge as one of them managed to get the status of a boy using the state apparatus to her advantage.

The report came as the father of one of the girls – Neha – moved the LHC Rawalpindi Bench which accepted the petition and summoned the two “accused” on July 15.

According to the petitioner, Asma married her daughter in a local court after amending her CNIC (computerised national identity card) fraudulently and changing the name to Aakash.

He said the nikah was registered in Ward No 10 of Taxila Cantonment Board, adding that the change in sex was impossible in Pakistan and against Sharia.

 On the other hand, the BBC Urdu shared more details of the episode and said the father – Amjad Shah – his 20-year-old daughter previously studied at a private school where she developed relations with her teacher (Asma) who lived nearby. Later, he added, Neha studied computer science and got a job at the same school.

Amjad also mentioned in the petition that he stopped Neha from going to school after it was revealed that the two had a relationship. He claimed that the area police did not take action as he approached them after the marriage episode.

It is said Asma informed the counsel for Amjad about changing her sex after she was contacted.