KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday allowed Arzoo Fatima, a Christian girl who converted to Islam and contracted a free-will marriage last year, to return to her parents house from the shelter home where she had been staying for over a year following a court order.

The girl, whose case dominated headlines last year, was shifted to a shelter home in November 2020 after a medical board confirmed that she was a minor. The girl had refused to return to her parents home, claiming she had converted to Islam and married of her own volition.

However, due to her status as a minor, her marriage was considered legally invalid, with authorities instructed to proceed against her alleged husband, Syed Ali Azhar, for violating the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act.

On Tuesday, Arzoo moved moved an application with the SHC, seeking to return to her parents homes from the shelter where she shifted to last year.

The division bench of allowed Arzoo to return to her parents and ordered that she would not be allowed to meet Azhar.

The bench ordered Arzoo’s parents to submit a surety bond of Rs25,000 to back up their undertaking that they would not pressurize her to reconvert to Christianity as she had told the court that she had willingly converted to Islam.

The court also directed the SHO of the concerned police station to submit quarterly reports about Arzoo’s well-being to the SHC through the court's member inspection team.