A 15-year-old Christian girl who was kidnapped and forcibly converted and married by a Muslim has been returned to her parents, four months pregnant. Her name is being withheld as she is a rape victim.
The teenager was kidnapped on 25 January and on 21 May she was reunited with her parents. They are pictured on either side of lawyer Hanif Hameed, who said that a Muslim abducted, forcibly converted and married the girl and got her pregnant due to repeated sexual assault.
She comes from a poor Catholic family in Sambrial Tehsil in Punjab’s Sialkot District, where her father Yousaf Masih works as a labourer at a local brick kiln. The lawyer said she was abducted from her aunt’s home, which she was visiting with her sister, by a 29-year-old Muslim man and four accomplices from Sambrial. Hanif Hameed told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, “Masih initially did not know that [the suspect], who worked at a nearby farm, had abducted his daughter, but upon learning about his involvement, he registered an abduction case against him on January 27.”
However, police ignored the family’s pleas for help. The lawyer said, “After twelve days, the police informed the Masih family that their daughter had converted to Islam and married [the suspect] with her free will. However, when we saw the conversion and marriage certificates that had been issued from Gujrat District, we found that both documents were fabricated.”
The documents indicated that the girl had contracted Nikah (Islamic marriage) on 17 January and converted to Islam the next day, though she was at home in Sambrial with her family on those dates. The lawyer commented, “This is a clear case of false conversion and fake marriage to cover the crime of abduction and rape.”
Since police had failed to recover the girl, her family filed a petition in the Lahore High Court ordering police to find her and arrest the suspects. Police presented her in the High Court on 6 May and Hanif Hameed reported, “Since the child was suffering from immense physical and mental trauma and was not in a position to record her statement, the court directed that the child should be moved to a government shelter for women in Sialkot District for rehabilitation. Three accused, including the primary suspect, were sent to prison on judicial remand while police are making efforts to arrest their two absconding accomplices.”
Those treating her at the shelter discovered she was four months pregnant. On 21 May she recorded her statement before Sambrial Magistrate Khurshid Ahmad, in which she expressed her desire to be given into the custody of her parents.
“Accepting her request, the magistrate allowed Masih to take his daughter home, where she is now among her family members,” said the lawyer, who is preparing charges related to rape, forced faith conversion and child marriage in the case against the suspects. He stated: “The law must take its full course against the accused, and all those involved in the criminal acts of abducting the minor girl, sexually assaulting her and solemnising the fake Islamic marriage must be sternly punished to make them an example for others.”
Anti-Child Marriage Bill
Abduction and forced conversion and marriage of young girls is a serious issue for Christian families in Pakistan. On 19 May Pakistan’s parliament passed a bill aiming to eradicate child marriage in the federal capital territory by raising the legal age of marriage for both sexes to 18 and prescribing strict punishment for violators.
The bill states that no Nikah registrar is allowed to solemnise a marriage if either party is under 18. Registrars are required to check and confirm ages using Computerised National Identity Cards, issued by National Database and Registration Authority, and a registrar who violates this law can face up to one year in jail and a fine of 100,000 Pakistani Rupees (approximately €313).
The bill states, “Living with a child under 18 in a marital relationship will be considered statutory rape” and that a man over 18 who marries an underage girl could face up to three years in prison, while anyone who forces or trafficks a child into marriage could be jailed for up to seven years and fined up to 1 million Pakistani Rupees (€3130). Those who “assist in arranging a child marriage” and parents or guardians who are involved in or fail to stop a child’s marriage may be sentenced to up to three years in prison.
The legislation gives courts the authority to stop a child marriage if informed in time and ensures protection for whistleblowers who wish to remain anonymous. It denies bail to perpetrators of underage marriage and bind courts to complete the trial within ninety days.
A bill criminalising child marriage has also been pending in the Punjab Assembly since April 2024. The minimum age for girls to marry is 16 in Punjab province, which has over 1.5 million Christians.
The Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024 set the minimum marriage age at 18 for Christians across the nation, but if a girl is converted to Islam she falls under Sharia law, which allows her to marry at a much younger age.
(Christian Daily International-Morning Star News)
Photo: Christian Daily International-Morning Star News