ISLAMABAD, Dec 16: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered three girls, who recently converted to Islam from Hinduism, to vacate a local madressah and shift to the Edhi Centre in Karachi but allowed them to continue religious studies after the girls told the court that they had changed their faith on their own free will.

“Let the girls continue receiving religious education in the same ‘madressah’ till the next date of hearing, but they should be kept in the Edhi Centre near their seminary,” a three-member bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice M. Javed Buttar and Justice Tassadduq Hussain Jillani observed and adjourned the hearing for Feb 24.

However, the court’s order distressed the girls so much that they started crying.

President Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) Malik Mohammad Qayyum, who had requested the court to take up the matter regarding abduction of the Karachi girls for subsequent conversion to another religion, appreciated the order.

Parents as well as other relatives, under the order of the court, will have the right to meet the girls namely Nida (earlier Reena 21), Afshan (Reema 17) and Anum (Usha 18), whereas the District Police Officer concerned was also directed to make adequate arrangements to provide daily security to the girls while moving them to and fro from the Edhi Centre to the madressah.

On Friday, the court provided the girls the opportunity to meet their father, Sanu Umra, for an hour in complete seclusion in the Supreme Court’s registrar’s office so that they could make up their mind.

Despite the meeting, the girls insisted before the court that they be allowed to stay in the madressah to continue their religious education, which were often disrupted due to unnecessary meetings.

However, the girls’ father, who had earlier lodged the case under the Zina Ordinance, said that it was difficult for him as well as their mother to meet them inside the madressah; therefore, they should be kept in some other place.

In its order, the Supreme Court also asked to involve the Sindh Welfare Department if need be while the District Coordination Officer was directed to ensure implementation of the court’s order, provide protection to the girls and submit a weekly report to the court regarding the girls.

A report from the Capital City Police Karachi, which was placed before the court, also stated that the girls during investigations had denied any incident of kidnapping by suspects Abid, Salman and Faisal on October 18, 2005 or being raped. The report also mentioned affidavits of the girls and “Sanads” (certificates) regarding embracing Islam at the Jamiatul Uloom Islamia, Binori Town, Karachi.

Maulana Mohammad Afzal, Nazim (in charge) of the seminary, also asked the court to respect the wishes of the girls who wanted to live in the madressah but the court observed that it was necessary for the satisfaction of the court to shift the girls to some independent place to ascertain whether they changed their faith on their own free will or under duress.

“It is our daily experience to discover that women who appear before us in different cases usually had given their statements under duress,” the court observed.