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'Forced conversion': Police told to produce Ravita in Sindh High Court on June 22
 [DAWN] MITHI: The Sindh High Court has ordered police to produce Ravita Meghwar -- a Hindu girl who, according to her family, was kidnapped, forcibly converted and married off to a Moslem man -- before the court on June 22.The Mirpurkhas DIG and Tharpakr SSP have been directed by an SHC bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar to ensure the girl’s presence at the next date of hearing. The court issued the directive on an application filed by Ravita’s father, Satram Das Meghwar, through Advocate Bhagwandas, against her conversion and marriage. Mr Meghwar told the court that his daughter, who was 16 years old, had been illegally married off to Syed Nawaz Ali Shah after having been kidnapped from her village near Nagarparkar Town on June 6. She was named Gulnaz after the conversion. The same day she married 36-year-old Shah at the marriage registrar’s office in union council Gulzar Khalil in Samaro of Umerkot district. Mr Meghwar said his daughter was born on July 14, 2001. His lawyer contended that the marriage under the age of 18 was a punishable offence under the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013. He said the registrar had mentioned Mr Shah’s year of birth (1980) and the national identity card number on the marriage certificate. Ravita’s age was shown as about 18 years, but there was no mention of her NIC number. Similarly, the lawyer said, the certificate of conversion to Islam also did not mention her date of birth and NIC number, but her age was shown as 18 years. "She was kidnapped from her house and forcibly married off to a man twice her age," said Mr Meghwar, who had lodged an FIR against Ali Nawaz Shah, Madad Ali Shah, Umar Junejo and Sher Mohammad Junejo for kidnapping his daughter. The FIR was registered under Section 365 of the Pakistain Penal Code at the Dano Dandhal cop shoppe in Nangarparkar taluka a week ago. Earlier, Mr Shah and Ravita had filed in the SHC an application seeking protection and accusing the girl’s parents of issuing death threat. The court had fixed June 30 the date of hearing on the application. Posted by: Fred 2017-06-21 |
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