Minister’s servant accused of forcing conversion still at large

I have no authority to raid a minister’s house, officer tells court.

KARACHI: A minister’s servant accused of abducting a teenage girl and forcing her to convert to Islam is still at large as the officers claim they have no power to raid a minister’s house.

The investigating officer insisted, however, that the girl eloped and converted on her own.

On December 10, the victim’s mother, Khursheed Bibi, woke up around midnight and found that their door was open. Her daughter, a gold ring and Rs90,000 were missing. “I found out later that my daughter was abducted by Ghazi [a former tenant],” she stated in the FIR.

Khursheed, who massages people for a living, had 14 children - seven sons and seven daughters.  The family was facing problems registering the case and they finally succeeded on December 22. The Boat Basin police registered FIR No. 644/12, under section 365-B.

Based on court orders, the police went to arrest the suspect named in the FIR but found out that he was a servant of Sindh Minister for Local Government Agha Siraj Durrani and lived at his house.



On January 11, the case took a new turn as the investigating officer, Ghaffar Khan, told the court that he could not arrest the suspect. “Ghazi was a servant of the minister and lives at his bungalow,” the officer told the court, according to Khursheed Bibi’s counsel, Amir Jameel Virk. “I had no powers to raid a minister’s house.”

The 13th judicial magistrate, South, Hatim Aziz Solangi, expressed annoyance over this excuse and issued non-bailable warrants against the suspect while directing the investigation officer to bring the couple before the court at the earliest. The prosecution had requested the court for two days to the investigating officer to make the arrest.

“The investigating officer has not submitted a charge sheet before the court even after 25 days,” said Virk. The officer is bound to submit it within 14 days after the case is lodged, he added.

Meanwhile, Khan insisted that the girl left her home on her own, embraced Islam at a madrassa in Malir and used her own will to get married to Ghazi. The officer said that he will arrest the suspect from the court if the girl gives a statement against him. Otherwise, the case can be disposed of by the judge.

Earlier, Virk had requested the court to form a medical board to determine the girl’s age as she was a minor. He requested that she should be sent to a shelter home. He also submitted the girl’s birth certificate, issued by the Philadelphia Pentecostal Church of Pakistan, before the court. The prosecution will submit their replies on January 16.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2013.