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
Showing posts with label Forced Conversion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Forced Conversion. Show all posts
Forcible conversion of Hindu girls on rise in Sindh: HRCP
On an average around 20 to 25 Hindu girls are being forcibly converted to Islam every month in the southern Sindh province, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said.
Urging the authorities to take note of these forced conversions, HRCP officials told reporters on Saturday that culprits were taking advantage of loopholes in the law.
Amarnath Motumel of the HRCP said that within a month 20 forced conversions had taken place.
“Apart from minor school girls, married women with children are not spared either,” he said.
The issue of Hindu girls being forcibly converted has come to the fore after the case of 18-year-old Rinkle Kumari from Sukkur who has converted and taken the Muslim name of Faryal after marrying a Muslim boy.
The family of the girl claim she was kidnapped and forcibly converted even after she appeared in court in Sukkur and claimed she converted out of her own free will.
But Motumel pointed out that not only were affected families warned of dire consequences but whenever a Hindu girl or her family appeared in court hundreds of religious zealots gather to pressurise them or they take to the streets as pressure tactics and to create an atmosphere of fear.
The families of Rinkle Kumari were also present at the conference in which her brother Inder said that had she been allowed to meet with her family members privately and even once she would never have converted.
“Despite the President’s orders for the girl’s rescue we are still waiting for something to be done.”
HRCP official Professor Badar Soomro said there was a need to enact new laws to restore a sense of security among the Hindu community.
He also said if a girl is kidnapped and her family registers a case she should be kept in a Darul Aman at least for a month before she is produced in court to record her statement.(The Hindu)
Urging the authorities to take note of these forced conversions, HRCP officials told reporters on Saturday that culprits were taking advantage of loopholes in the law.
Amarnath Motumel of the HRCP said that within a month 20 forced conversions had taken place.
“Apart from minor school girls, married women with children are not spared either,” he said.
The issue of Hindu girls being forcibly converted has come to the fore after the case of 18-year-old Rinkle Kumari from Sukkur who has converted and taken the Muslim name of Faryal after marrying a Muslim boy.
The family of the girl claim she was kidnapped and forcibly converted even after she appeared in court in Sukkur and claimed she converted out of her own free will.
But Motumel pointed out that not only were affected families warned of dire consequences but whenever a Hindu girl or her family appeared in court hundreds of religious zealots gather to pressurise them or they take to the streets as pressure tactics and to create an atmosphere of fear.
The families of Rinkle Kumari were also present at the conference in which her brother Inder said that had she been allowed to meet with her family members privately and even once she would never have converted.
“Despite the President’s orders for the girl’s rescue we are still waiting for something to be done.”
HRCP official Professor Badar Soomro said there was a need to enact new laws to restore a sense of security among the Hindu community.
He also said if a girl is kidnapped and her family registers a case she should be kept in a Darul Aman at least for a month before she is produced in court to record her statement.(The Hindu)
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