Hindu family in Pakistan says daughter kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam, married off



A Hindu family in Sindh, Pakistan has filed a police complaint alleging that their underage daughter was married off to a Muslim man after being forcibly converted to Islam. The girl and her husband, on the other hand, have said the marriage and her conversion to Islam was wilful.

In what could be yet another instance of a Hindu girl being forcibly converted to Islam, a Hindu family in Pakistan has alleged that their daughter was forcibly married after being kidnapped and made to change her religion.

The family has claimed that Ravita Meghwadh, an underage girl, was forcibly converted to Islam and was married off in Tharparkar in Pakistan's Sindh province.

Notably, Hindus in Pakistan, a religious minority, have often alleged that they suffer at the hands of extremists who often forcibly convert Hindu girls to Islam.

Interestingly, Ravita and her husband, Syed Nawaz Ali Shah, have filed a petition at the Singh High Court requesting protection and saying that Ravita's conversion to Islam and her marriage to Shah was wilful.

Ravita converted to Islam at a Khanqah in Umerkot district and changed her name to Gulnaz. Her family has denied this version of events and is accusing Nawaz and his family of kidnapping Ravita.

According to a report in the Pakistani daily The Express Tribune, Ravita's father claims that his daughter is underage. "She was abducted from home and was forcefully married to a man who is double her age," Satram alias Satio Meghwadh, the girl's father, was reported to have said.

Lajpat Meghwadh, who is married to Ravita's older sister, too made a similar claim. "My wife is barely 18-years-old. How can her younger sister be an adult?" Lajpat reportedly said.

Meanwhile, a Dawn report says that the girl's marriage certificate says she is "approximately" 18 years old. Dawn also accessed Ravita's birth certificate, according to which she was born on July 14, 2001, putting her age at 16.

Both the Pakistani media reports said that Ravita's father has filed a police complaint in the matter, naming Syed Nawaz Ali Shah and three others, but no arrests have yet been made.

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