india

Updated: May 29, 2017 07:01 IST

The Islamabad high court on Wednesday allowed Uzma Ahmed, an Indian national who said she had been forced into marrying a Pakistani man, to go back to her country.

Ahmed, in her early twenties, told the court she was forced to marry Tahir Ali, a resident of Buner in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, at gun point after she agreed to come to Pakistan to meet him.

During the hearing, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani asked Ahmed if she wanted to meet her husband in the chamber but she refused the offer, saying she did not want to talk to him.

The court assured Ahmed she was free to return to India and would be escorted to the Wagah border with police security.

Soon after the hearing, Ahmed left the court for the Indian high commission, where she will stay until arrangements are made for her to repatriation. Sources hinted that Ahmed, a resident of New Delhi, could be repatriated as early as Thursday.

In her para-wise comments, Ahmed reiterated through her lawyer that she had been “terribly beaten…tortured physically and mentally and forced to sign on the nikahnama” by Ali.

She reiterated her allegation that she had been given sleeping pills by Ali, who sexually assaulted her after he received her at the Wagah land border.

Ali had sought court’s intervention to meet Ahmed in “a free atmosphere”, claiming that she had recorded her statement before a magistrate against him under “duress and pressure” from her brother and officials of the Indian mission.

On May 3, Ahmed had told a magistrate in Islamabad that she had been deceived, tortured and forced to sign marriage documents. Ahmed further said she had taken refuge at the Indian mission because she felt threatened and wanted to return to India.

However, Ali had filed a petition claiming that she was being forcibly kept at the Indian high commission.

Ahmed and Ali reportedly met in Malaysia and fell in love, after which she travelled to Pakistan on May 1 via Wagah. She said she was forced into marrying Ali two days later.