Custody battles: District court hands over 6 children to mother

By Shamsul Islam

Published: October 18, 2011

FAISALABAD:

Six children were released into their mother’s custody by a judge after their father detained them illegally.

The orders were passed on a petition filed by Raja Chowk Peoples Colony resident Musarrat Shaheen who contended that her husband had illegally seized her children.

Musarrat told the court that she married Naseer Ahmad in March 1992 and had 6 children including Rabia, 10; Husain, 8; Tayyiba, 6; Reeba, 4; Abbas, 2; and Faraz, 1. “My husband was a drug addict and alcoholic. He squandered all of our savings and used to beat me in front of my in-laws and children. When I moved to my parent’s house to protect my children he abducted them,” she told the court.“There were days when he would lock my children and me up and refuse to give us food. He beat them too. Eventually I had to leave him,” she said.

Musarrat said that she began working two jobs to support her children. “I was working at someone’s house when my husband and his brother took my children,” she said. Musarrat said that the incident took place four days ago when her husband Naseer and his brother Nazeer took her children and tried to flee the district. Musarrat approached the court to seek help in recovering her children. Accepting the petition, the court deployed a bailiff and directed Station House Officer (SHO) Batala Colony to recover the children and produce them in the court. All six children were brought before the court on Monday and handed over to their mother. The court, after adjudicating the issue, handed over full custody of the children to Musarrat Shaheen under Section 491 of The Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The court further observed that the allegations against the accused have locus standing as the accused deprived the woman of her children in an improper way. “Musarrat plans on seeking a divorce but the court has already granted her custody because her husband is an alcoholic,” said advocate Waseem Muhammad.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2011.