Accused says ‘woman’ embraced Islam; FIR mentions her a minor

Islamabad, March 27

A Pakistani man has claimed that a Hindu woman, who authorities said was a minor and abducted by four armed men, has converted to Islam and married him in Sindh province, amidst uproar over a similar case involving two teenaged girls from the minority community.

His claim came a day after the provincial Minorities Affairs Minister Hari Ram Kishori Lal directed authorities to register an FIR of the abduction and provide protection to the girl’s family.

The FIR was registered on Tuesday after the girl’s father complained that his 14-year-old daughter was abducted from their house by four armed men, three of whom were unidentified, on March 17 from her residence in Badin district. However, the man came forward with the claim that she is now his wife after converting to Islam, Dawn reported.

He sent documents to journalists, claiming that he has married the girl after she converted to Islam at the hands of Pir Jan Agha Khan Sarhandi on March 17 at his seminary in Samaro town, the report said. The man, who hails from Umerkot district, also rejected her father’s claim that she was a minor, saying that the girl was 19 years old, it said.

The incident came amidst nationwide outrage over abduction, forced conversion and marriage of two underage Hindi girls in Ghotki district in Sindh. Raveena, 13, and Reena, 15, were allegedly kidnapped by a group of “influential” men from their home on the eve of Holi.

Soon after the kidnapping, a video went viral in which a cleric was purportedly shown soleminising the Nikah (marriage) of the two girls, triggering a nationwide outrage.

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday ordered official protection for the two girls due to concern about their safety. — PTI