SUKKUR: The court of first civil judge and judicial magistrate Jacobabad Imtiaz Ali Lakhair on Wednesday ordered that Hindu girl Mehek Kumari, who eloped with a Muslim man and later embraced Islam to marry him, be sent to Darul Aman Larkana and directed Chandka Medical College to submit medical report on the girl’s age on Feb 3.

Mehek Kumari, daughter of Vijay Kumar, eloped with Ali Raza Solangi eight days ago and married him after having embraced Islam in Amrot Sharif and renamed as Aleeza.

Earlier, Aleeza and her husband Ali Raza Solangi were produced before the judge amid tight security.

She recorded her statement in the court in the presence of her parents and her husband and stated that she had embraced Islam in Amrot Sharif and married Ali Raza Solangi of her own free will and that nobody had kidnapped her.

She stated that her father had levelled false accusations on her husband and lodged a fake case against him and his relatives. She wanted to withdraw the application she had submitted against her father, she said.

The court, after hearing Aleeza, allowed her to live with her husband but lawyers of the girl’s parents insisted that she was underage, merely 15 years, one month and 24 days old.

On this, the court sent Aleeza to the court of district and session judge where the girl’s parents had filed an application about her being underage. Aleeza was produced in the court of second additional session judge Ghulam Ali Kanasro ad repeated that she wanted to live with her husband.

But the court ordered that she be sent to Darul Aman where she would remain till her age was ascertained and ordered Chandka Medical College Larkana to submit a report on the girl’s age on Feb 3.

Meanwhile, Hindu community kept closed their businesses on the second consecutive day and took out a rally from Hindu Panchayat Hall to DC Chowk and then returned to the Panchayat Hall.

Minister supports stance of ‘converted’ girl’s family

KARACHI: Sindh Minister for Minority Affairs Hari Ram Kishori Lal has contacted the mukhi of the Hindu Panchayat of Jacobabad and assured his full support to the family of 15-year-old Mehak Kumari, who allegedly converted from her religion, and held out an assurance to support the stance of her family and the panchayat in the case.

A statement issued by the ministry quoted Mr Lal as saying that forced conversion of minor Hindu girls had become a routine business. Hindus were the oldest dwellers of Sindh and their life and death were linked with the soil of Sindh, it added.

“The minister appealed to the authorities of the state of Pakistan to take notice of such brutality and injustice being committed against minor girls of the Hindu community and take measures for proper security to the minorities,” said the statement.

“The minorities’ minister is of the view that Mehak Kumari is a minor girl and she cannot marry before the age of 18 as legislation under Child Marriage Restraint Bill put restriction on early marriages,” it said.

It was a crime as per law, he said and appreciated the court’s decision of sending Mehak to Darul Aman. All minor girls in such cases must be sent to Darul Aman instead of handing them over to the person involved in their abduction, he added.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2020