A 19-year-old Pakistani Sikh girl was allegedly abducted, converted to Islam and married to a Muslim man in in Nankana Sahib of Punjab province.
An FIR has been registered against Mohammad Hassan, who married the girl, and five others in the case, Nankana City Police Investigation Officer Muhammad Jamil said.
Police said prime suspect Mohammad Hassan could not be arrested as he was on pre-arrest bail. Arsalan, a friend of Hassan has been arrested. "Arsalan facilitated Hassan in getting him married to the Sikh girl," Jamil said.
Jamil said that Hassan and the girl live in the same locality. "They developed a love affair and the girl decided to elope with him to contract marriage," he said.
The family of the girl said that Kaur was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam. In a video message they sought Prime Minister Imran Khan's help. The family demanded protection as they feared attack from fundamentalists.
The police official said that the girl, through her lawyer Sheikh Sultan, rejected her family's allegations. Jamil said that the advocate of the girl, identified as Jagjit Kaur, in her statement before the court declared that she embraced Islam and married Hassan of her free will.
Jagjit Kaur's (now Ayesha) gave her statement in the court of Muhammad Umar Farooq, 1st class magistrate, Lahore.
In her statement recorded under section 164 of Pakistan’s code of criminal procedure, she said, "I am an independent individual. I am 19 years old. I contracted marriage with one Muhammad Hassaan on August 28, 2019, of my own free will and consent. My Sikh name was Jagjit Kaur and it was mentioned in an FIR as well whereas after the conversion to Islam, I adopted the new name Ayesha."
"Neither anybody abducted me nor committed zina [Islamic legal term meaning illicit sexual relations] with me. I left my parent's house with three pairs of clothes, without any gold ornaments or cash. The accused persons in the FIR are innocent. The story narrated in the FIR is false, frivolous and baseless.
Sultan said that he has also filed a petition in the Lahore High Court against local police and her family on behalf of the girl.
As per the directions of the court, Kaur has been sent to Darul Aman, Lahore (shelter home).
In a related development, the Punjab government has constituted a high-level panel to negotiate with the 30-member committee formed by the Sikh community in connection with the case.
Prime Minister Khan had in March ordered a probe into reports of abduction, forced conversion and underage marriages of two teenage Hindu girls in Sindh province.
The two girls were allegedly kidnapped by a group of "influential" men from their home in Ghotki district in Sindh on the eve of Holi.
(With inputs from PTI)
