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Criminal Revision Application No. 148 of 1974, decided on 30th July 1974.
-----S. 491--‑Habeas corpus‑Mere marriage of girl (major) with man of her own choice‑No ground for sending her to Darul Aman‑---Order of sending said girl to Darul Aman, held, illegal and amounting to wrongful confinement.
1973 P Cr. L J 79 rel.
Qamar Muhammad Khan for Applicant.
Advocate‑General (Sind) for Respondents.
We have heard Mr. Qamar Muhammad Khan and the Advocate‑General and we have also gone through the record brought by Mr. Zahid Ali, a Clerk in the office of the District Magistrate, Sukkur. We have recorded his statement as also that of Mst. Shahnaz Begum. She is major and we fail to understand as to what powers were exercised and under what law the District Magistrate directed that she be detained in Darul Aman, Sukkur. A faint suggestion was made that in fact she has not been detained in Darul Aman, but when we went into the matter further it was found out that this lady Mst. Shahnaz Begum is not free to leave Darul Aman. Further the order of the District Magistrate dated 17‑6‑74 under which Mst. Shahnaz Begum has been sent to Darul Aman is an order of detention. It is no doubt correct that this girl has married a man of her own choice. She is a major and has every right to do so and simply because she has married a man of her own choice is no ground that she should be kept in Darul Aman under an illegal order of detention. Mr. Qamar Muhammad Khan referred us to a Lahore case reported in 1973 P Cr. L J 79, where the High Court of Lahore in similar circumstances held that sending a major girl to Darul Aman against her own consent is illegal and we would add that such an order is not only illegal but amounts to wrongful confinement of a person. Accord ingly we would set Mst. Shahnaz Begum at liberty and she may go with whomsoever and to whichever place she likes. We may here clarify that in this order we are not deciding any dispute with regard to the person to whom Mst. Shahnaz Begum has married. Before us the only point is whether she is major or not and she is adrinttedly so and therefore she cannot be detained in Darul Aman against her own wish. The record of the District Magistrate s office will be retained with the record of the file before us.
Petition accepted.
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