KARACHI: The fresh medical report prepared on the court orders to determine the true age of Dua Zahra has confirmed that she is nearest to 15 years of age, the lawyer representing her father said Monday.
The medical board was constituted after the girl’s family challenged the previous report declaring Dua Zahra’s age to be between 16-17 years.
Prof Saba Sohail, principal of the Dow Medical College, Karachi, was appointed as the head of the panel that also comprises Dr Sikandar Rafique Qureshi, head of the Radiology Department at the Lyari General Hospital, Dr Rani, consultant radiologist, and seven other medial experts as its members.
The girl was presented before the panel on Saturday and several tests were conducted to determine her age, which was to be submitted to the court today.
Jibran Nasir, the lawyer representing her father Mehdi Kazmi, said that the medical board has verified the parents’ statements, which they have been “telling since 2.5 months”.
Nasir, in a series of tweets, said that as per the medical board’s report, Zahra is nearest to 15 years of age, negating the previous medical report which placed Dua at 17.
“Thus proven that NADRA documents are accurate and Dua, in reality, is a 14-year-old child.”
Noting that offences of kidnapping, child marriages, and rape/sexual offences all are attracted to a case where the girl child is under 16, he asked Sindh’s inspector-general to take immediate action to remove the current investigation officer of the case and recover Zahra at the earliest.
Nasir said that the incumbent IO has been telling the media that there is no case of kidnapping.
An Additional District and Sessions Judge East last Saturday rejected Zahra’s father’s appeal to change the IO probing her alleged abduction.
The lawyer added that the attorney-general had also told the Sindh High Court that no case of kidnapping was being made out and the police relied on the statement of the girl to back their claims.
“…girl repeatedly told the honourable courts that she is 18 years of age, today it is proven that all statements were a result of inducement,” he said.
Nasir called for better procedures and training in place both in police and judiciary to “save our children”.
He said that for the last 2.5 months, the parents moved from pillar to post to recover their child, while Dua unaware of herself, was under “unimaginable danger while content creators cashed in on this tragedy”.
