A Sindh police official said on Sunday that Dua Zehra, a teenager who had gone missing from her Karachi home in April and later surfaced in Punjab, has been recovered from Bahawalnagar in a joint operation carried out by the Sindh and Punjab police.

       Karachi South SSP Zubair Nazeer told Dawn.com that both Dua and Zaheer — the man who is said to have contracted marriage with her — have been taken into protective custody. "Both of them will be brought to Karachi after all legal requirements are completed," he said.

       Earlier, the Sindh police had approached the Interior Ministry for help in recovering the teenager after the Sindh High Court (SHC) instructed it to present her in court by June 10.

       The case

       On April 16, Dua's parents filed a first information report (FIR) alleging that their daughter had been kidnapped when she left the house to dispose some garbage. The incident had provoked an outcry, specially on social media, which had prompted authorities to take notice.

       After nearly 10 days, on April 26, the teenage girl was recovered from Okara. In a video statement that day, Dua had said that she wasn't kidnapped and had married Zaheer out of "free will".

       The 13-year-old girl had said that she had left her house of her own accord. "I have married out of free will. No one forced me. I'm happy with my husband here. For God's sake, don't bother me," she had stated.

       Dua had also said that she was 18 years old, claiming that her parents were lying about her age.

       Subsequently, she and Zaheer approached the Lahore district and sessions court and filed a petition against Dua's father and cousin.

       Meanwhile, the police had also filed a plea in court demanding that Dua be sent to Darul Aman. However, the magistrate rejected the request and had allowed the teenager "to go where ever she wanted to and be set at liberty from the premises of the court as desired by her to go where ever she wants to".

       On the other hand, Dua's parents were adamant that their daughter had been kidnapped and said that she had been forced to give the statement.

       The teenager's father had also approached the SHC last month with a plea against the Punjab's court's orders. Syed Mehdi Ali Kazmi had stated in the petition that as per her educational, birth certificates and other record, Dua’s age was 13 and under the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013 it was illegal to marry with a minor/underage.

       He had asked the court to order medical examination of his daughter.

       In the following days, the Karachi police repeatedly failed to produce the teenager in court earning the judges' ire.

       At a hearing on Friday, the court had directed the director general of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to make sure that Dua was not take out of the country with direction to file reports whether bank accounts and CNICs of persons involved in this case had been blocked.