Dua Zehra's father objects to medical test verifying her age

KARACHI: A counsel representing the father of Dua Zehra, Mehdi Kazmi, has raised objections over the medical certificate determining her age and demanded to form a medical board for it, ARY NEWS reported.

The counsel, Advocate Altaf Khoso, said that a medical board should be established to determine her age as determining the age through a bones’ test could not be considered efficient.

“The NADRA record is a documentary proof that carries the date, time and year of the birth,” he said and added that they have challenged the legal status of the medical examination.

A medical board constituted to ascertain the age of Dua Zehra has finalised its report and sent it to the Karachi police, which will submit it before the Sindh High Court (SHC) bench hearing the case.

“Dua Zehra is aged between 16 to 17 years,” the medical board report said according to the sources. As per Dua’s father, her age is 14 years, while Dua Zehra in her statement before the SHC said she is 18 years old.

The medical tests to verify the age of the allegedly 14 year-girl, who had run away from her house and reportedly married a boy from Lahore, were conducted on the orders of the SHC.

According to the Anti Violent Crime Cell (AVCC), multiple tests including the bone were conducted in the Civil Hospital Karachi.

Dua Zehra and her reported husband were presented before the Sindh High Court on June 6, 2022. Dua had refused to meet her parents amid the hearing of the case.

During the hearing, the girl denied being abducted by Zaheer Ahmed and said that she has married him willingly. ‘I am 18-year-old,’ replied Dua when a judge asked her about her age.

The court had sent her to a shelter home, ordering medical tests to determine her age.