'Forced' conversion case: SHC new bench starts hearing Anjali’s case

Father says the 12-year-old girl was abducted and forcibly converted.

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court's (SHC) new bench has taken up the case of the forcible conversion of a 12-year-old girl, Anjali Meghwar.

The SHC has now issued intimation notices to lawyers representing the provincial government as well as the parties on identical petitions regarding the forced conversion of the Hindu girl and the quashing of the kidnapping case against her spouse.

Last week, a division, bench comprising Justices Ahmed Ali M Sheikh and Syed Muhammad Farooq Shah, had declined to further proceed with the plea against Anjali's forced conversion and marriage when her lawyer expressed no confidence in the two judges.

Forced conversion

Petitioner Kundandas Meghwar, Anjali's father, submitted in the petition that his 12-year-old daughter, Anjali, whose Muslim name is now Salma, was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam but the Ghotki police were not taking action against the culprits involved in her kidnapping, forced conversion and marriage.

He alleged that the police were helping the culprits as they did not produce the girl before the court on time and gave a chance to the respondent party to destroy evidence against them and to prepare documents in favour of their baseless version.

He also sought declaration that Anjali is underage and no statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure can be recorded at this stage. He also requested that if her statement was necessary then a judicial magistrate in Karachi be authorised to record her statement. He added that a medical board be constituted for her examination.

Kidnapping case

The other petition was filed by the mother of Riaz Ahmed Sial, who is the spouse of Anjali. The petitioner submitted that her son had married Salma, who converted to Islam with her freewill but the police had implicated him in a false kidnapping case. She has sought quashing of the case against her son by the Ghotki police.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 7^th, 2014.