Best Lawyers in Chandigarh Pak Sikh girl in shelter home, ‘her lawyers’ claim she married of own will

Islamabad, August 31

The police in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Saturday claimed six persons had been booked in connection with the alleged forced conversion to Islam and marriage of a Sikh girl.

Her family, meanwhile, reiterated their demand that she be restored to them, even has she has been sent to a shelter home on court orders.

The police also claimed the girl’s lawyers had submitted in court that she had converted and married of her free will.

The 19-year-old girl was allegedly abducted and forcibly converted to Islam before being married to a Muslim man in the country's Punjab province.

Muhammad Jamil, Nankana City Police Investigation Officer, told PTI that an FIR had been registered against six persons in the case. 

There were also media reports that quote her brother as saying that “neither our sister has been returned to us, nor has any arrest been made.”

The family of the girl, in a video message, had earlier claimed that the girl had been abducted and forcibly converted to Islam and sought Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s help.

The police claimed to have arrested one of the suspects, identified as Arsalan, a friend of prime accused Mohammad Hassan, who married the Sikh girl.

“Arsalan facilitated Hassan in getting him married to the girl,” the police said, adding that Hassan was on pre-arrest bail and could not be arrested. They said Hassan and the girl lived in the same locality. 

“They developed a love affair, and the girl decided to elope with him to contract marriage,” he said.

Police officer Muhammad Jamil said the advocate of the girl, identified as Jagjit Kaur, in her statement before the court had declared that she had embraced Islam and married Hassan of her free will.

The official said that the girl, through her lawyer Sheikh Sultan, had rejected her family’s allegations.

Sultan said he had also filed a petition in the Lahore High Court against the local police and her family on behalf of the girl. 

As per the directions of the court, the girl has been sent to Darul Aman, Lahore, a shelter home.

Earlier, a video of the girl at the wedding ceremony had gone viral, in which she is seen sitting beside Hassan and saying that she was marrying him without any pressure.

India on Friday said it had raised with Pakistan the issue of the Sikh girl’s forced conversion to Islam and asked for “immediate remedial action”.

The government in Pakistan’s Punjab province has constituted a high-level panel to negotiate with the 30-member committee formed by the Sikh community in connection with the case. 

Prime Minister Khan had in March ordered a probe into reports of abduction, forced conversion and underage marriages of two teenage Hindu girls in Sindh province.

The two girls were allegedly kidnapped by a group of "influential" men from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi. — PTI

Best Lawyers in Chandigarh High Court