KARACHI:
Yesterday Sindh High Court ruled that a Hindu girl Angeli Maghward who had been kidnapped and forced into Islamic marriage by a Mr Riaz Sial a Muslim, was legally married.
The parents of the girl filed a complaint that she was a minor and forcibly converted to Islam for marriage. Father of the Hindu girl Kundan Maghward took the witness stand in Sindh High court and set out his objections that his daughter is only 12 years old. Pakistani law states it is illegal for a minor under 14 to be married.
The Division Bench of Sindh High Court consisting of Mr. Justice Sajad Ali Shah and Mr.Justice Saadiq Hussain heard the case. Surprisingly they gave a verdict that the girl was legally married to Riaz, based on the fact the young girl had consented to the wedding, had undergone an official Islamic marriage, and the husband Mr Sial had his own residence and security arrangements for the girl.
The court also ordered that the pending case of kidnap against Mr Sial be discharged.
Kundan Maghward, father of the Hindu girl, said that he was devastated by the decision of the Court. He wept as he explained that they were too poor to appeal this unjust case in the Supreme Court.
Mushtaq Gill advocate said;
“We don’t have any issues with a person who converts to another faith out of free will marries with free consent, but when someone is abducted, forcibly converted and married then it is difficult to keep quiet and silent.”
Wilson Chowdhry Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, said
“It is with great sadness I hear the plight of this poor girl. The reported rate of Christian girls being abducted, raped and forced into Islamic marriage currently three per week. Hindu girls suffer a similar statistic and hundreds, perhaps thousands of cases are simply unreported due to the fears that terrified communities fear. This is now a social epidemic of increasingly gargantuan proportion and requires more international scrutiny.”