' MIAN GHULAM AHMAD, J.---A case under section 11, Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood)
Ordinance VII of 1979 was registered at P.S. Ratra, District D.G. Khan, on 16-6-1993, at the instance of Qadir Bakhsh according to whom his minor daughter Zahida Parveen had been abducted by Muhammad Ramzan on the night between 14/15-6-1993. While taking away the girl from her house, Muhammad Ramzan accused, with the help of his mother Mst. Rajo and sister Aisha, had also deprived the complainant of valuable ornaments and some amount in cash as well.
2. Writ Petition No,2859 of 1993 was on 8-7-1993 filed by Zahida Parveen and Muhammad Ramzan against Qadir Bakhsh and the S.H.O., P.S. Ratra, the prayer being that the case be quashed and the S.H.O. Be directed not to arrest the petitioners, as they had lawfully married each other. The learned Judge in Chamber dismissed the writ petition in limine on 11-7-1993, observing that apparently it was a case of abduction or elopement as the marriage had been performed in an unconventional manner at a place other than the parental home of the girl. A direction was made that the Investigating Officer would proceed against the petitioners, as also against others, who had participated in the `Nikah' ceremony, including the Nikah-Khawn and the Nikah Registrar.
3. This order has been brought under challenge through this I.-CA. Filed by the unsuccessful writ petitioners. It is maintained that a marriage need not necessarily be performed at the house of the parents of the bride, and what was required was free consent of the spouses and their competence to enter into contract of marriage. The girl being sui-juris was eligible to agree to her marriage with a young man of her choice. There was no allegation of Zina, and it may thus be inferred that even according to the girl's father, Qadir Bakhsh, complainant in the case, she is not a concubine but is lawfully living with Muhammad Ramzan, following her valid marriage with him.
4. It is not uncommon that youngsters, after having gone adrift adopt a sinful life, and then to cover the same, hit upon the device of solemnization of Nikah, which, at times, is even manipulated or engineered. There is a noble and permissible way of doing everything, and if a mode that has no religious or moral sanctions is adopted, not only the society, even the State machinery takes exception to it. Cohabitation between a man and a woman has to follow and not to precede their lawful union, namely marriage. If the girl is abducted away forcibly by the boy interested in her, or she elopes with her paramour, one of her family members would be entitled to approach the police with a complaint that an offence has been committed and with a request that the accused be apprehended and the incident investigated. This is what the unfortunate father of the girl did, in this case.If Zahida Parveen and Ramzan had actually contracted a lawful marriage, in a willing manner, and the Nikah claimed to have been solemnized on 4-64993 was a genuine one, they should have joined the investigation and established their innocence, and it could not be said that the very registration of the case was an act without a legal sanction, either on the part of the complainant, or on the part of the police. Registration of a case could not be taken exception to and its quashment straightaway ordered without any further investigation.
5. The learned Single Judge was not absolutely unjustified in forming an impression against the validity or authenticity of the Nikah, ostensibly solemnized in an objectionable manner and in suspicious circumstances. The learned Judge, therefore, was also well within his rights to order the investigating agency to make a probe in that behalf and examine some of those people who had attended the ceremony, the Nikah Khawn and Nikah Registrar in particular, in order to judge their credentials and with a view to determine the authenticity of the document of marriage. By telling the Investigating Officer to proceed against the petitioner, as also the Nikah-Khawn and Nikah Registrar, the I.O. Has not evidently been asked to record a finding against them or challan them.
The police will investigate the case and may not necessarily endorse the standpoint of the complainant and the petitioners, therefore, should not have any cause of grouse on that score.
' With these observations the I.-CA. Is dismissed in limine, having no force in it.