Man arrested for forcibly converting, raping girl

Police have arrested a man allegedly involved in forcibly converting and raping a Hindu girl. – File photo/Dawn

HYDERABAD, Aug 6: The Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad circuit bench on Monday remanded a man in police custody after a Hindu girl rejected his claim that she had converted to Islam and married him. She, instead, accused the man of abducting her and subjecting her to rape for months.

Justice Munib Akhtar passed the order after hearing a criminal miscellaneous application filed by Sarwar Solangi.

Solangi’s counsel, Ghulam Hyder Shah, said that according to Solangi, who was a Hindu of Bagri community prior to his conversion, the 19-year old Hindu girl of Tandojam had accepted Islam on May 20 before Mufti Shafat Rasool Naeemi in Darul Uloom Mujaddidiya, Sahibdad Goth in Malir, Karachi and a certificate to this effect was issued by the institution.

He said the girl signed a sworn affidavit before Justice of Peace on May 25 and her Nikkah was solemnised with him in Ghazi Dawood Brohi union council in Malir Town, Karachi.

Her conversion annoyed her parents, said the applicant, and on June 21 her relatives Jairam, Rajoo, Nadhiya and Chainiya forcibly snatched her away from him when they were going to visit shrine of Baba Pardesi in Hyderabad.

She was kept at an unknown place for 15 days and then shifted to her parents’ home near Chambar road in Tando Allahyar.

The applicant had requested the court to direct police and the girl’s relatives to produce her in court on Aug 6.

On Monday, the girl appeared in the court and rejected the Solangi’s claims. She said she had left her house on May 18 to wash clothes when Sarwar and two unidentified men kidnapped her and took her to Karachi. She was kept locked up in a room where Sarwar repeatedly subjected her to rape, she said.

She said that she was forced to put her thumb impression on blank papers. On July 30, when Sarwar and his friends left the place and went out to buy wine she managed to escape from the place and reached her home.

She said that she wanted to go live with her parents. The judge asked the girl’s father whether he wanted to pursue the matter further and the father replied he only wanted justice in accordance with law.