SHC allows two girls to live at seminary

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday allowed two girls from Mirpurkhas, who converted to Islam, to live at the Jamia Binoria seminary.

A division bench comprising Justices Gulzar Ahmed and Malik Muhammad Aqil passed the order after recording statements of the girls, Ayesha and Marium, who were produced by the Karachi police on a court order.

The girls submitted that they had embraced Islam of their own accord against the consent of their parents. The parents wanted to marry them to Hindu men. Nobody had kidnapped them, they said, and they happily lived at Jamia Binoria.

Petitioner Mohandas submitted that his daughters, Monika Bai and Lilawanti, were abducted by a cleric, Hafizur Rehman of Madina Masjid, Mirpurkhas. Two days later they were brought to Jamia Binoria.

He said the cleric allowed him to meet the girls but only in the presence of armed seminary officials. He alleged that seminary people asked him to convert to Islam if he wanted the return of his daughters.

His counsel, Noor Naz Agha, prayed to the court to order recovery of the girls.

The SHC division bench, in view of the girls’ statements, allowed them to live at Jamia Binoria, saying they were free to choose where they wanted to live.
Source: Dawn
Date:4/10/2009

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