Tag: teenage marriages

  • Child marriage: Rape charges added in Arzoo Raja case

    Child marriage: Rape charges added in Arzoo Raja case

    Sindh police have added rape charges in the FIR [first information report] against the purported husband of teenage Christian girl Arzoo Raja who married the minor after forced proselytisation.

    Along with Syed Ali Azhar, six other people, including two lawyers and justice of peace, were also booked in the case. They have been charged under Section 3 (punishment for male contracting party), Section 4 (punishment for solemnising a child marriage) and Section 5 (punishment for parent or guardian concerned in a child marriage) of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act.

    Azhar has also been charged with Section 375 (v) (sexual intercourse with a minor) of the Pakistan Penal Code. 

    The brothers and a friend of the prime suspect were absolved of all charges for lack of evidence, whereas the kidnapping charge was also struck down following Arzoo’s denial, who has been sent to a shelter home by the court.

    Meanwhile, a report in Geo News claimed that Arzoo Raja has tested positive for coronavirus and is in isolation at Panah Shelter Home.

    CASE:

    Prime suspect Ali Azhar allegedly abducted Arzoo from Karachi’s Muhalla Railway Colony West Camp Road locality on Oct 13, according to the family, which registered a kidnapping case on the same day. On Oct 15 police summoned them to the local station and showed them documents claiming that Arzoo was 18 years old and had willingly converted to Islam to marry Azhar.

    Subsequently, a plea was filed in the Sindh High Court and the court allowed Arzoo Raja to stay with her alleged husband. However, following an uproar, a review plea was filed and the court ordered the formation of a medical board to determine the age of the girl.

    The medical board report found out that the girl was a teenager, strengthening the family’s claims that their girl was abducted was forced to convert for marriage.

  • Teenage Christian bride to stay with ‘kidnapper’, rules court

    Teenage Christian bride to stay with ‘kidnapper’, rules court

    In spite of the parents’ plea seeking the return of their underage girl, the Sindh High Court handed the custody of a 13-year-old Christian girl child to a Muslim who allegedly coerced the teenager into marriage after her abduction and forced conversion.

    Newsday Pakistan, an outlet focused on minority rights, reported the court as saying that Arzoo Raja had converted to Islam and married 45-year-old Ali Azhar out of her own free will; therefore, she was allowed to live with her husband. The court also ordered the police not to arrest Azhar and the other persons nominated in the FIR [First Information Report] by the girl’s family and to ensure the security of the couple.

    Ghazala Shafique, a rights activist based in Karachi, said the Sindh High Court’s refusal to take into account the documented age of Arzoo Raja, 13, and the falsification of documents had shocked the family and the entire Christian community.

    “According to the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) records, Arzoo’s age is 13, as she was born on July 31, 2007,” she said. Sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 16 is statutory rape and carries a death sentence or a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison in Pakistan.

    This is the second case of forced conversion of underage Christian girls in Karachi in a year. In October 2019, 14-year-old Huma Younas was kidnapped and forcibly converted to Islam, according to reports.

    In Faisalabad, Punjab province, 14-year-old Maira Shahbaz was kidnapped and forcibly married and converted to Islam earlier this year.