Just Earth News | @justearthnews | 17 Jul 2020, 10:40 am Print
Islamabad: A minor Hindu girl, who was allegedly forced to marry a Msulim man in Pakistan, has finally got some relief after a country's court order that she could return to her family after paying a surety bond of Rs 2 lakh, media reports said.
Mehak Kumar, the minor Hindu girl, earlier alleged that she was forced to embrace Islam and was rechristened as Alezah and married to a Muslim man Ali Raza Solangi.
On Thursday, at the Sindh High Court hearing, Mehak refused to live with Solangi, following which the judge directed the management of Panah Shelter Home to hand over Mehak to her mother Kanta Kumari but only if Kanta furnished a bond of Rs 2 lakh for girl’s safety, reports The Times of India.
A Pakistani Hindu leader on condition of anonymity told TOI, “The Hindu family is the victim and yet court asked them to furnish a bond of Rs 2 lakh if the family wants custody of girl. This is injustice.”
Apart from Mehak, similar episodes of forced conversion and marriage of girls belonging to other communities, including Sikh, have been reported from Pakistan in recent months.
- Pakistan: UN experts express concern over lack of protection for minority girls from forced religious conversions, marriage
- Forty percent Pakistanis are currently living below the poverty line, says World Bank
- Hindu girl abducted in Pakistan, community members slam authority
- Thailand's lower house passes bill to legalise same-sex marriage
- UN says 758 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse registered last year
