Indian National Uzma, Forced To Marry Pakistani Man, Returns To India

Indian national Uzma, who had accused her Pakistani husband of marrying her at gunpoint, has finally returned to India, a day after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) granted her permission to do so. She had police protection till she reached the Wagah Border, as ordered by the IHC.

A bench, headed by Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, returned Uzma her original immigration form, which her husband Tahir had submitted to the court on Tuesday (23 May), reported Geo News.

Tahir had expressed his desire to meet Uzma in private; the latter refused. Justice Kayani remarked that if Uzma did not want to meet Tahir, she won't be forced.

Wasim Ahmad, brother of Uzma, said the Indian government had done more than expected for Uzma. He said the Indian Embassy treated Uzma with care. She took shelter in the Indian High Commission in Islamabad on 5 May.

Ahmad added that he had no words to thank the government, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the Indian High Commission in Pakistan. Swaraj took to Twitter to express her sympathy for the ordeal that Uzma went through.

On 19 May, Uzma had submitted a six-page reply to the High Court and reiterated her earlier claims and said she was forced to sign the Nikkahnama (marriage papers). The reply also claimed that Tahir's affidavit was based on lies. It also requested that Uzma be allowed to travel to India as her visa would expire on 30 May.

Earlier, while recording her statement before the Court of a Judicial Magistrate, Uzma (20) alleged that she was sedated, assaulted, tortured mentally and physically by the man in Pakistan, who had invited her to visit his family in the country.

The case came to the forefront after Uzma’s husband claimed that Indian High Commission has stopped her wife from leaving the premises during their visit to apply for visa on 7 May.

With Inputs From ANI.