Pakistani teenage girl seeks emancipation from father

ISLAMABAD: In a surprising move a teenage girl has filed a petition in the Supreme Court to seek emancipation from father i.e. removal of her father’s name from her legal documents.

The girl yet to be identified has filed a petition and has requested Justice Saqib Nisar, the chief justice of Pakistan, to “Please remove my father’s name from my birth certificate and all of my educational degrees and other documents”.

The Justice Nisar-led three-judge bench of the apex court, was informed by the petitioner that she wishes to sever every tie to her father and seeks “to renounce any association with the [father’s] name”.

“The name of the man, who does not deserve to be called a father, who does not provide for me, who I haven’t even met, should not be associated with mine.”

The chief justice upon hearing the petitioner’s case then ordered the director-general of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to present the girl’s father in the court.

After the NADRA representative agreed to track the father down CJP informed the girl that the court cannot issue an order to remove the father’s name.

The petitioner’s mother who was also present asked the court, “Parents are allowed to and can disown their children, so why can’t the children disown their parents?”

Concluding the hearing CJP Nisar issued a notice to the girl’s father and summoned him for the next hearing.

‘Emancipation of minors is a legal mechanism by which a minor is freed from control by their parents or guardians, and the parents or guardians are freed from any and all responsibilities toward the child.’