Lahore: A court in Pakistan handed over a Hindu girl back to her parents after she was allegedly lured into a relationship by a Muslim man and subsequently pressured to convert to Islam and marry him.
Shirimati Reeta, 21, a resident of Rana Rajput Colony in Khipro tehsil of Sindh’s Sanghar district, had gone missing from her hometown last week, according to a complaint registered by her brother Ravi Shankar.
Shankar alleged that CCTV footage from the family’s residence showed unidentified individuals taking his sister away along with valuables and mobile phones August 24.
According to the complaint, Reeta was allegedly taken to Gujranwala in Punjab, some 80 kms from Lahore, where she was pressured into converting to Islam and marrying Nazeer Hussain, who was already married.
Punjab police later recovered Reeta and produced her before a judicial magistrate Monday.
During the proceedings, the investigating officer requested the court to place Reeta in Darul Aman, a state-run shelter, claiming that she was unwilling to return to her parents.
“However, her lawyers, Asad Jamal and Kheta Ram, opposed the request and told the court that Reeta wished to return home with her brother, who was present in the courtroom,” a court official said Tuesday.
The magistrate asked Reeta to record her statement under oath.
“In her statement, Reeta said that she wanted to return to her parents’ home of her own free will,” he said.
The court subsequently allowed her to leave with her brother, making him responsible for her safe custody and transportation back to her family’s home in Sanghar.
According to estimates cited by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, hundreds of minority girls are allegedly subjected to coercion, abduction or pressure to convert and marry every year in Pakistan.
The rights group claim that a significant proportion of the victims belong to the Hindu community and that many cases involve girls from economically disadvantaged and marginalised families.
They have repeatedly called for stronger legal safeguards and more effective investigations to protect women and girls belonging to vulnerable minority communities.
PTI
