Rape and forced conversion of 15-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan
A 15-year-old Christian girl from Pakistan faced rape and forced conversion after being kidnapped.
Hanif Hameed, the lawyer for the 15-year-old Christian girl, said the girl had been kidnapped, raped and forcibly converted to Islam for the past five months. The 15-year-old girl, whose name is being withheld due to the rape case, was kidnapped by a Muslim man in Pakistan's Punjab province on January 25 of this year. Five months after her abduction, she was returned to her family on Wednesday, May 21.
According to Hanif Hamid, the girl was kidnapped by 29-year-old Muslim Mohammad Anis and four accomplices from her aunt's house in Sambrial, Sialkot district of the province. The girl's father, Yousuf Masih, also works in a brick kiln in Sambrial.
Hanif, the girl's lawyer, said about her abduction: "The girl, whose name is not mentioned for privacy reasons as a rape victim, had gone to their aunt's house with her younger sister when the accused abducted her. Yusuf Masih initially did not know that Anis worked in a nearby farm and had abducted his daughter, but after learning about this, he filed a kidnapping case against him on January 27. However, the police ignored the poor family's pleas to take action against the suspect and release their daughter."
The lawyer for Yusuf Masih's daughter also added: "After 12 days, the police informed Masih's family that their daughter had converted to Islam and married Anis of her own free will. However, when we checked the conversion and marriage certificates issued by the Gujarat district, we found that both documents were fake."
"The documents indicated that the girl had married (Islamic marriage) on January 17 and converted to Islam the next day. This was while she was at her home in Sambrial with her family on those dates."
Reacting to this incident and the police's failure to investigate, Hanif Hamid said, "This is a clear example of false religious conversion and fake marriage to cover up crimes of kidnapping and rape."
According to Hanif, after the police failed to find the daughter of the Masih family, her family filed a petition in the Lahore High Court, asking the police to find their daughter and arrest the suspects, which eventually led to the police producing their daughter in the High Court on May 6.
Hamid continued: “Since the child was suffering from severe physical and mental injuries and was not in a position to record her statement, the court ordered that she be shifted to a government women’s shelter in Sialkot district for rehabilitation. The three accused, including Anis as the main suspect, were sent to jail on remand while the police are trying to arrest their two absconding accomplices.
The people who were taking care of the girl at the shelter discovered that she was four months pregnant as a result of the repeated rapes by Anis. Finally, on Wednesday, May 21, the girl recorded her statement before Justice Khurshid Ahmed of Sambrial, expressing her desire to return to the arms of her parents. The judge accepted her request and allowed Yusuf Masih to take his daughter home and she is now with her family members.
The girl’s lawyer, Hanif Hamid, said he was preparing a case to file charges of rape, forced conversion and child marriage against the suspects in her case. He also added about the legal proceedings in such cases: “The law must be fully implemented against the accused and all those involved in the criminal acts of kidnapping this girl, raping her and holding a fake Islamic marriage ceremony must be severely punished to serve as a lesson to others.”
