Dua Zehra's father moves SC to challenge high court's decision of setting her free.

The father of Dua Zehra - the teenage girl who went missing from Karachi in April and was recovered from Punjab earlier this month - on Saturday filed an appeal in the Supreme Court challenging the Sindh High Court's ruling that said his daughter was free to decide her fate.

On June 8, the Sindh High Court (SHC) had allowed Dua to decide whom she wanted to reside or go along with after she denied on oath being kidnapped by her purported husband. Subsequently, the Sindh police on Thursday had recommended to a local court that the case lodged by Dua's parents be quashed, observing that charges of her kidnapping and underage marriage were not proven.

Her father, Mehdi Kazmi, submitted a petition challenging the SHC verdict in the apex court today through his counsel that named the Sindh government, inspector general of police, senior superintendent of police (East), Al Falah police station's station house officer, Anti-Violent Crime Cell investigation officer and Dua's purported husband Zaheer Ahmed as respondents.

The petition argued that the SHC had erred in law by setting Dua, a minor, at liberty instead of committing her to the lawful custody of a guardian. It said that the court can only set a person of age at liberty while minors were supposed to be committed to a guardian's lawful custody.

"In the present case, the honorable Sindh High Court has transgressed across this fundamental principle viz while confirming that the abductee is indeed a minor under the age of 18. The high court ... set her at liberty instead of committing her to lawful custody of her guardians," the petition said.

It said the court had further erred by relying on Dua's statement and also by preferring reliance upon an "improper" bone ossification test report, opined by a single medical expert rather than a medical board, as opposed to registered documentary evidence...