The family of an underage Hindu girl from Tharparkar has claimed that she was kidnapped, forcibly converted to Islam and married off to a Muslim man.
She was abducted from her house and forcibly married to a man twice her age,” said her father, Satram alias Satio Meghwadh, who lodged the FIR of the kidnapping at Nano Dandal Police Station in Nangarparkar, Tharparkar four days ago.
The FIR lodged under Section 365-B of Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with kidnapping to compel a woman to marry against her will, names four people: Shah (the husband), Madad Ali Shah, Umar Junejo and Sheru Junejo. Family is also filing a petition in Sindh High Court against the marriage because marriage was solemnised in violation of Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013, which was passed by Sindh Assembly in April 2014.
Ravita Meghwadh, a teenager, reportedly converted to Islam on June 6 and changed her name to Gulnaz. On the same day, she married Syed Nawaz Ali Shah at the marriage registrar’s office in Samaro Union Council, Umerkot, according to Shah and his family.
The family’s claim of Ravita age is based on a primary school certificate, which mentions her date of birth as July 14, 2001, making her about 16 years old. Ravita’s brother-in-law, Lajpat Meghwadh, who married her elder sister on April 29 this year said: “My wife is barely 18 years old. How can her younger sister be an adult?”
Interestingly, the marriage registrar has mentioned Shah’s year of birth as 1980, and national identity card number on the marriage certificate, but Ravita’s age has been written as “approximately 18” and her NIC number not mentioned. Similarly, the certificate of conversion to Islam also does not mention her date of birth and NIC number, listing her age as “approximately 18.”