LAHORE: A fascinating scenario arose at the Lahore High Court on Tuesday when during the hearing of a love-marriage case, the relatives of the girl claimed that the groom was not a man but a woman.
Ayesha Butt and Shahzad Butt had filed a petition seeking cancellation of an FIR that the family of the girl had registered against the groom on charges of kidnapping and theft. The girl through her counsel submitted that she had contracted marriage with Shahzad Butt of her free will.
In her statement, the girl also stated that no one had kidnapped her and that her family had lodged a fake case against her husband. She told the court that she wanted to live with her husband and requested that the FIR be quashed.
During the course of hearing, the uncle of the girl, Arif Butt, stated before the court that Shahzad Butt was not a man but a girl. He said the real name of Shahzad Butt was Sonia Butt. He also presented the birth certificate and school leaving certificate of Shahzad Butt which showed that the latter was a girl.
He alleged that Sonia Butt was a member of a criminal gang and trapped girls pretending to be a man. He said the gang later forced the trapped innocent girls into prostitution. Arif Butt also urged the court to order the medical examination of Sonia (Shahzad) so that the alleged drama could be exposed.
Justice Manzoor A Malik, however, observed that the instant petition pertained to the FIR registered with B-Division police station Gujrat only and the court could not issue any directions irrelevant to the petition.
The judge directed the police to cancel the FIR in light of the girl’s statement and asked the girl’s family to approach the appropriate forum to establish their claim. After the proceedings, the ‘couple’ sat in the courtroom to avoid the wrath of the girl’s family and media persons. Later, the judge ordered high court security officials to escort them outside the court premises.
As they came out of the courtroom, the ‘couple’ initially avoided answering a series of media queries. However in a brief talk with reporters, Shahzad defended the allegations and said he was a man, not a girl. Ayesha also spoke and said her husband was not a girl and that she did not want to live with her parents.
