ISLAMABAD: Hopes for the rapid resolution of a controversy involving the conversion of a Hindu woman to Islam have been dashed after the Pakistan Supreme Court deferred the matter for at least three more weeks.
The court ruled that Rinkel Kumari, a 19-year-old student who converted under disputed circumstances last month, should spend the next three weeks pondering her fate in protective custody with another Hindu woman in a similar situation.
During an emotional and sometimes rowdy hearing in a packed courtroom, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said there had been ''serious allegations of abduction and forced conversion'
The case started in Mirpur Mathelo, a small town, where, in the space of 12 hours on Februaury 24, Ms Kumari left her family home, converted to Islam and married Naveed Shah, a Muslim neighbour who said he had been courting her through Facebook and mobile phone contact.
Her family and Hindu leaders reacted angrily, alleging she had been abducted at gunpoint.
Ms Kumari, who wore a black hijab and was flanked by six police officers, stumbled as she began her evidence. Justice Chaudhry cleared the court to let the women to testify in private.
Tension mounted once the hearing resumed, when Ms Kumari's father, Ramesh Kumar, rushed towards the bench, pleading for his daughter's release.
Moments later he was carried from the court, still shouting, by his hands and feet.
Justice Chaudhry ordered that the two Muslim converts be returned under police escort to a women's shelter in Karachi until the next hearing on April 18.
The New York Times
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/hindu-womans-disputed-conversion-to-islam-goes-on-hold-20120327-1vwkx.html#ixzz1qMJ3E31F
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