Forced conversion: Anjali to stay at shelter home, SHC orders

Family allowed to meet daughter, whose conversion sparked widespread protests

KARACHI: A Hindu girl, Anjali Kumari Meghwar, whose 'forced' conversion recently sparked wide-spread protests by the religious minority, will stay at the shelter home in Karachi, ordered the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday.

The two-judges also allowed her parents to meet her and issued notices to the provincial chief secretary, the home secretary, provincial police chief, senior superintendent of police Ghotki and others to file comments on the family's allegations of forced conversion and marriage by November 24.

Her father, Kundandass Meghwar, went to court pleading to declare that Anjali Bai is underage and therefore any statement that she gives to live with her husband cannot be considered in court. He claimed that his daughter, who is only 12 years old, was abducted and forced to convert to Islam.

On Monday, the police produced Anjali, whose Muslim name is Salma, in the court of the judicial magistrate, who sent her to the shelter home in order to let her think about her life without any pressure from her parents and her husband.

Lawyer Syed Ali Ahmed Tariq said the girl's family had lodged a case against her kidnapping and forced conversion but they are not satisfied with the investigation conducted by the Ghotki police. The police must investigate the case in an impartial manner and in accordance with the law against the culprits, said Tariq, adding that the police have failed to produce the girl before the court on time and have deliberately spoilt the evidence against the accused party, who will ultimately succeed in maintaining the documents to support their baseless version. The lawyer argued that it is necessary that the girl should stay at the shelter home for her security. But, since she is a minor, her parents have the right to meet their daughter, he said.

The court was pleaded to order the provincial authorities to constitute a medical board, comprising qualified gynaecologists and surgeons of Karachi, to conduct her medical examination to ascertain her age.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 11^th, 2014.