KARACHI: The father of Dua Zahra, the teenage girl who was reported missing from Karachi in mid April and resurfaced in Punjab in early June, has filed a new petition in the Sindh High Court seeking recovery of his daughter from the illegal custody of Zaheer Ahmed.

The petition, which is yet to be set for hearing, states that Dua Zahra was abducted by Zaheer Ahmed at a time when she was 13 years, 11 months and 19 days old at the time.

A court-ordered medical board comprising ten doctors found Dua Zahra to be between 14 to 15 years of age a day earlier. Earlier, a court had ruled Dua to be between 16 to 17 years old on the basis of a bone ossification test and ruling that she was free to live with whoever she chose.

Dua Zahra has repeatedly claimed in courts that she is 18 years old and that she married Zaheer, who she met on PUBG, of her own free will.

Mehdi Ali Kazmi, Dua’s father, has attached documents including from the National Database Registration Authority (Nadra), educational certificates, passport and birth certificate in support of his petition.

It contends that Zaheer Ahmed took the abducted girl to Punjab for child marriage. The date of marriage is April 17. For a girl to marry, both the bridge and groom must be 18 years or above, as per Sindh’s laws. In Punjab, the minimum age for marriage is 16 years for girls under its Marriage Restaint Act.

In the petition, the court has been requested to order the recovery of 14-year-old Dua Zahra from the ‘illegal custody’ of Zaheer Ahmed and to be handed over to her parents.

The Sindh Home Department, Sindh IG, the station house officer of the Al Falah police station and Zaheer Ahmed among others have been made parties in the petition.