Triumph for
Pakistani 'love
marriage'
Triumph for
Pakistani 'love
marriage'
The Lahore High
Court in
Pakistan has
ruled that the
marriage of a
couple who had
been accused of
adultery is
lawful and
valid.
Humaira
Khokar and her
husband, Mahmud
Butt, were
arrested at
Karachi airport
last month when
they tried to
leave the
country for the
United States.
The couple
married against
the wishes of
the bride's and
had been living
in hiding before
their arrest.
In court,
Humaira Khokar
was accused of
adultery by a
male cousin,
Muazzam Ghias.
Muazzam Ghias
alleged that she
had already
married him a
month before the
betrothal to
Mahmud Butt, and
his lawyer
produced a video
recording of the
alleged earlier
marriage.
Adultery in
Pakistan is
punishable by
stoning to death
under Islamic
law.
But the High
Court said the
marriage to the
cousin had been
faked and thus
null and void.
In what the
defendant's
lawyer described
as "a landmark
case", the court
ruled that Ms
Khokar's
marriage to Mr
Butt was legally
valid, and the
couple should be
allowed to live
together at a
place of their
choice.
Arresting
officer jailed
Justice
Tasadduq Hussain
Jilani also
sentenced Police
Inspector Subah
Sadiq, who
arrested the
couple, to a
month's
imprisonment
with a token
fine of 5,000
rupees (about
$60).
Mahmud Butt,
who has a son
from a previous
marriage, is
settled in the
US with his
parents.
Ms Khokar,
the 29 year old
daughter of a
Muslim League
member of the
Punjab Assembly,
has attracted
public attention
to the cause of
choice in
marriage.
Reporting
from Lahore, the
BBC's Shahid
Malik said the
case focused
public attention
on marital
choice and
evoked sympathy
from human
rights bodies.
A women's
rights worker
filed a writ
petition against
the couple's
illegal
confinement.
Ms Khokar has
lived apart from
her husband for
almost a month
at a women's
shelter in
Lahore,
protected by
giant steel
gates and seven
men carrying
automatic
rifles.
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