Police deny any forced conversion in Badin

Say underage boy embraced Islam of his own free will

KARACHI:

Denying reports that a minor girl was forcibly converted in their district, the Badin police claimed it was, in fact, an underage boy who accepted Islam of his own free will.

Taking notice of a video that went viral on social media, SSP Badin Shabeer Sethar said in a statement that no girl was kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam. "It is a Hindu boy who willingly converted," he said.

On the other hand, Chetan Kolhi alleged the boy in question was his 11-year-old nephew, TD*, son of Kewal, and the minor had been forcibly converted. "He is a minor and doesn't know anything about the religion," he said.

According to TD's school certificate, available with The Express Tribune, he was born on February 2, 2010, and was enrolled in a government boys' primary school.

Chetan added that his nephew and brother both were working for a landlord living near Kadhan town in Badin district. "It is a forced conversion," he alleged. He said that the family went to Badin's court for a hearing on Tuesday where supporters of the Jamali family, who allegedly converted the minor, misbehaved and did not allow the mother to meet the boy. "The men escorted the boy and kept the family away from him," he claimed.

Read more: SA fails to debate on forced conversions yet again

Chetan continued that the police deployed near the court refused to help the family.

"The boy is underage," Advocate Ameer Panhwar told The Express Tribune. He said that the next hearing of the case was fixed for June 28. "Let the court decide, but it's a minor boy and it is not legal to convert him," he explained.

Ghafoor Chandio, a resident of Kadhan town, said he knrw both families. He said the boy was enrolled in Grade-V and had been working with the Jamali family for the last few months.

This is the first kind of incident reported from lower Sindh in which a minor boy was allegedly converted to Islam in a forced manner.

"I have not heard a minor or young boy ever being converted to Islam," Panhwar said.

The video went viral on social media and several social activists criticised the alleged forced conversion. "It is a true incident that took place in Badin," social activist Saeed Sangri wrote on his twitter account. He also attached a video of the incident.

Meanwhile, a member of the Jamali family, Ahsan, said two of his relatives witnessed the conversion. "I can produce them before the police if they need anytime," he said.

Ahsan added his family was not involved either in the conversion or any other related case. "The boy converted to Islam through a seminary located in Badin city, not in our town," he claimed.

The Jamali family member continued that the boy left their area before the conversion. "He was not in our custody," he clarified.

Sources told The Express Tribune that the father of the boy regularly assaulted the minor physically. "The boy threatened the father not to beat him any longer otherwise he would convert to Islam," a man from the Jamali family claimed. He added the boy was beaten again on June 10 and went to a madrssah located in Badin the next and converted to Islam.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 24^th, 2021.