KARACHI: The lawyer representing the parents of Anjali Kumari Meghwar said on Thursday that he would file a petition in the Sindh High Court for the transfer of the case from Daharki to Karachi.

The move came four days before the girl is to record her statement before a judicial magistrate in Daharki.

Speaking to Dawn, lawyer Kanji Rano Bheel said: “The family is going to meet the police chief again on Friday (today). Among the things we would discuss there includes the demand that the investigation officer in this case be from Karachi.”

In this regard, a constitutional petition from the family would ask the SHC to transfer the case to Karachi and order a medical examination of Anjali Kumari to determine her age.

According to reports, Anjali Kumari is yet to record her statement under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code, a hearing for which is scheduled for Nov 12. “She’s not bound by the law to record her statement,” said the lawyer, “because she’s a minor. But we need proof of that for which we are filing a petition in the high court.”

The case of alleged forced conversion that has come up in recent weeks shows that Anjali Kumari was ‘abducted from her home’. According to her parents, she was converted at the shrine of Bharchundi Shareef in Daharki, and married off to a Muslim man.

Her parents denied the claims made by a spokesperson for the shrine caretakers that she converted and married of her own free will. A civil court has sent the girl to live in a shelter home in Karachi.

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2014