BADIN/KARACHI: A woman who had claimed to have contracted a free-will marriage and recorded her statement twice before a judicial magistrate and a judge since Feb 2021, retracted from her earlier statements on Monday and was eventually allowed reunion with her parents.
Reena Meghwar, a resident of Kario Ghanwar town of Badin district, was “rescued” and produced before a court in Badin by police when, in a video that went viral the previous evening, she was seen begging to be helped to rejoin her parents. She deposed before the judge that she had been kidnapped, married off to Qasim Khaskheli under duress and forced to convert. The judge allowed her to go to her parents’ home.
It was in Feb 2021 that Reena had left her home and later on contracted a free-will marriage, Badin SSP Shabbir Ahmed Sethar said quoting her first statement before a judge of the Sindh High Court. She had stated that she had embraced Islam and changed her name to Mariam. Eventually, she was allowed to live with Qasim and police were told to quash the kidnapping FIR which was registered against him on the complaint of her parents.
Two months later, her video made rounds on the social media again making her parents approach the police for her custody but in her second statement, now under Section 164, she stated she wanted to stay with her husband, Qasim.
But on Monday, after her video went viral on the social media, she sought help telling some interviewers that she had been under threat of dire consequences, including murder of [her] parents and brothers, which forced her to stay with Qasim.
In this video, she also denied having contracted a free-will marriage or converting to Islam.
On his part, Qasim told local reporters on Monday that some influential figures of Badin were behind the “conspiracy” against him over their legitimate free-will marriage.
The Badin police took her into custody and produced her in a local court, which allowed her to go with her parents.
The judge also ordered registration of a fresh kidnapping, harassment and torture case against Qasim.
Published in Dawn, July 27th, 2021
