KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has ordered a bone ossification test of a teenage girl who was reported missing from Karachi. Nimra Kazmi, believed to be 16, resurfaced in Dera Ghazi Khan where she had entered into a free-will marriage.

The court sent Nimra to a shelter home where she will stay until the determination of her age. It is illegal for anyone under 18 years to be married under the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013.

The order came during a hearing for the recovery of Nimra Kazmi and Dua Zehra, another teen who went missing from Karachi and resurfaced in Punjab where she had also entered into a free-will marriage.

Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro is heading the two-member bench, comprising includes Justice Agha Faisal, that heard the case for Nimra and Dua Zehra’s recovery.

The parents of both girls were in the courtroom. Sindh Inspector General Kamran Faisal and AIG Ghulam Nabi Memon were also present.

During the hearing, Nimra informed the judge that she is a student in grade ten. Upon this, the judge stated that she must not be 18 yet. (In Pakistan, the average age of grade ten students is between 15 and 17 years.)

The girl informed the court that her age was understated in documents to facilitate her education. She asked the court to have her medically tested to determine her age.

The court has ordered that Nimra’s medical report be submitted at the next hearing of the case and adjourned it till June 2.

Dua Zehra case

The judge expressed ire over the failure of police to recover Dua Zehra from Punjab and ordered the government to replace Inspector General Kamran Fazal. He asked the Establishment Division to assign the charge to a “capable officer”.

At the last hearing, Justice Kalhoro had ordered police to produce Zehra in court on May 30.

However, Punjab Police informed the Sindh inspector general (IG) that Zehra had moved to AJK. A Model Town Court in Lahore recorded Zehra’s statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the IG informed the court.

A judicial magistrate in Lahore had dismissed the police’s appeal seeking Zehra’s medical examination to ascertain her age. According to her birth certificate, Zehra is 14 years old, while she claims that she is 18.

Zehra went missing from Karachi’s Korangi area on April 16 and was found in Punjab when she declared that she had married a young man, Zaheer, according to her own free will.