April 6, 2024
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
The Chief Court on Saturday morning once again delved into the case of Falak Noor, who was allegedly abducted by a neighbour from her village of Sultanabad in District Gilgit. The age of the girl fell under discussion, however this came after she was called to the judges chamber to give a statement.
Lawyer Wazir Shafi, spoke to Voicepk and said that the legal team was sitting in the court today waiting, when they found out that the girl had been summoned to the judges chamber along with her father.
“The judges took the girl’s statement in the presence of her father, asking her whether she had gone away of her own free will,” said Shafi. “The girl again repeated the same thing that she had married of her free will and wanted to go with her husband, not her father.”
Shafi said that the case later ensued in court where Falak Noor’s legal team presented past rulings of the Supreme Court of Pakistan where the birth certificates and other birth documents were enough to show the age of the girl. But now that there was a dispute concerning her age, there was no other way out than to opt for an ossification.
“The court gave an order that the child should be taken to the hospital, and have her ossification test done. Afterwards she should be examined by a gynecologist as well to determine a more precise age range. On Monday (April 8) she must again be presented in court and we hope to have a clearer answer by then.
Shafi said that the ossification test may result in a two year age range, but then when you pair that with the documentary evidence including the birth certificate, then it was expected that the child would be declared a minor accordingly.
“Till then the custody of the girl will be with the women’s police station which has been declared a Darul Aman temporarily,” he said.
Meanwhile a doctor said that while a medical board had been constituted they would only be examining the X rays of the teeth and bones after they were done.
“The doctors will not conduct the tests themselves. They will only be looking at the tests to come to a conclusion, but it must be ascertained that the tests being brought to the doctors are indeed Falak Noor’s and that there is no discrepancy there. The whole matter must be very transparent.”
The doctor added that if the doctors on the medical board were neutral, then there would be no issue. “The age may fall one or two years more or less, but there will not be so much difference that the age is pronounced as five years more,” he said. “Also if they are not happy with the case, Falak Noor’s family have the right to have another board constituted of their own will.”
“The credibility of the medical board matters a lot and if there is no satisfaction it can be reconstituted , but we hope that there will be transparency as this is a high profile case,” said Israruddin Israr, regional coordinator of HRCP.
Falak Noor’s video where she says she married of her own free will, appeared on March 20.
Precedents
Meanwhile in a murder case from 2022, where the accused was said to be a juvenile at the time of the offence, the Supreme Court set a precedent.
In ‘Gufran Ali Vs Haseeb Khan and another‘ the court verdict said that ordinarily, the date of birth of a person was determined on the
basis of ‘documentary proof i.e. birth certificate, educational documents and National Identity Card etc.’
“But when the date of birth is disputed and
varies on all such documents then the ossification test is the best way to
determine a person’s age. The ossification test is a test that determines
age based on the “degree of fusion of bone” by taking the x-ray of a few
bones. In simple words, the ossification test or osteogenesis is the process
of the bone formation based on the fusion of joints between birth and the
age of 25 years in an individual. Bone age is an indicator of the
skeletal and biological maturity of an individual which assists in the
determination of age. The ossification test varies slightly based on
individual characteristics such as climatic conditions where the person
born and raised, dietic values, hereditary differences etc.”
The written statement went to on to say, “In the present case, there was a conflict between the Birth Registration Certificate issued by the Secretary Union Council Naryab, Hangu and the NADRA record regarding the date of birth of the respondent No. 1. In this backdrop, the learned Trial Court rightly constituted a medical board to examine the respondent-accused. The report consists of three opinions of (i) Radiology Department, (ii) General Medicine Department and (iii) Dental Department. Although the age of the respondent was found to be 18 to 20 years and 16 to 18 years by the two departments but it is settled principle of law that if two views are possible from the evidence adduced in the case then the view favourable to the accused is to be adopted.”
Likewise a medical board was also formed to determine the age of Dua Zehra — the girl who was reported missing from Karachi on April 16, 2022 and later recovered from Punjab on June 5.
In yet another example, a medical board was also constituted to determine the age of Farah Shaheen, who belonged to a Christian family and had been abducted on June 25, 2020, by one Khizr Hayat who was over 40 years old at the time. Three days after the abduction of Shaheen she suddenly ’embraced Islam’ and married Khizar. Later the medical board declared she was a minor and Shaheen was returned to her family.
National Commission for Status of Women
Previously, the chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) Nilofar Bakhtiar met with civil society delegation from Gilgit-Baltistan who urged her to give attention to the case. Bakhtiar urged immediate support for the delegation and called upon the G-B chief secretary and IG police to take swift action. She also demanded the setting up of a medical board.
She also talked about child marriages and their rise in Gilgit-Baltistan, and announced that a visit to the region to advocate for the enactment of a Child Marriage Act.
She also announced she would look into setting up a regional women’s commission.