The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday barred the police from harassing an Indian woman who had filed a petition against them.

The woman, formerly Sikh, had come to Pakistan for religious purposes but had converted to Islam to marry the second petitioner, her now-husband. She complained that the police had conducted an “illegal raid on their house in Farooqabad, Sheikhupura district, and pressured her to end the marriage.”

The petition was heard by Justice Farooq Haider, who ordered the police to stop harassing the petitioners.

The petition, a copy of which is available with Dawn, was filed on November 12 under Article 199 (jurisdiction of High Court) of the Constitution. It named both the woman and her husband as the petitioners and Punjab’s inspector general of police (IGP), the regional police officer of Sheikhupura, the district police officers (DPOs) of Sheikhupura and Nankana Sahib, the station house officers (SHOs) of the same, and another resident of Farooq Abad as respondents.

The petition alleged that, based on the woman’s former religion, this other resident had requested the SHOs to conduct an illegal raid on the petitioners’ home twice, on November 8 and 11. It said the SHOs caused “undue harassment towards them” and forced them to dissolve the marriage.

The petition added, “The police functionaries are duty-bound to provide legal protection as guaranteed by Article 35 of the Constitution … the state is duty-bound to protect the life and liberty of spouses.” In addition to Article 35 (protection of family, etc), it also cited Article 9 (security of person) to argue that no person should be deprived of life or liberty except in accordance with the law.

It also said that the husband was a citizen of Pakistan, while his wife had also approached the embassy to extend her visa and obtain Pakistani nationality.

The petition submitted that the respondents’ actions were “against the law and fundamental rights” and severely infringed on the petitioners’ rights. It added that the petitioners would suffer “irreparable loss and injury” if the court did not issue a proper direction restraining the respondents from causing undue harassment.

It requested the LHC to “graciously” direct the respondents not to cause undue harassment to the petitioners and “not to interfere [with] the matrimonial life of the petitioners”, as well as any other relief the court deemed fit.

A report by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) in August found an alarming rise in violence against religious minorities during the last year, including the targeted killing of Ahmadis and extra-judicial killings by the police of those accused of blasphemy. The HRCP underscored the urgent need for reform within law enforcement and accountability mechanisms.