A love marriage case in the Lahore High Court made Monday a bad day for the motorists at The Mall Road when relatives and friends of the couple fought with and beat each other with punches and clubs in front of the LHC gate in GPO Chowk and blocked the traffic flow for hours.
A couple of women from the girl’s family went on a wild and strange protest and lay spread-eagled on The Mall Road only to halt traffic flow and give an open challenge to the police and wardens. Though there is ban on holding protests on The Mall but police machinery of the city failed to stop the women from staging wild battle on the main artery of the provincial capital. Two friends of the boy were seriously injured by the infuriated woman of the girl’s family and police surprisingly could not stand in the way of the women armed with sticks and clubs.
One Abida had contracted love marriage with Amir without the consent of her family, who had got and FIR of kidnapping registered against her husband. Amir had filed petition in the LHC to quash the FIR and in that connection the two lovebirds had appeared before court of Justice Manzoor Malik. Close friends, relatives, family members including women, had come to the LHC for the hearing. The court vicinity soon became a battle ground when Abida’s family attacked Amir’s family. Justice Manzoor allowed the girl to go with her husband and this infuriated the family who tried to snatch her from her husband and a battle ensued that soon took shape of a protest.
Later the mob reached the GPO Chowk and blocked the main road, creating trouble for the motorists. While the relative scuffled, the LHC security sneaked the girl and the boy away from the grip of hostile relatives and helped them escape by a secret gate. When Abida’s family realised that the girl had left, they rushed to the GPO Chowk and blocked in protest. Later, the police assured Abida’s family that she would be recovered and returned to them.
