Abducted Pakistani Hindu Girl Reunites With Family After Sindh Court Order

A Pakistani Hindu girl who was abducted, forcibly converted, and married to a Muslim man has reunited with her family following a Sindh court’s order, a community leader confirmed.

According to Hindu activist Shiva Kaachi, who helped represent the girl’s parents in court, a lower court in Umerkot, located about 310 kilometres east of Karachi, ordered on Saturday that Sunita Kumari Maharaj be returned to her family.

Sunita had been kidnapped from Kunri, a town in the Mirpurkhas district, and was later subjected to forced conversion and marriage to a much older Muslim man.

Local Hindu leaders and human rights activists said that Sunita is among the few Hindu girls who have managed to obtain justice in such cases.

“Sunita’s case is not an isolated one and this systematic abductions, forced conversions and marriages of Hindu girls is a crisis that continues to terrorise our community in Sindh,” said Advocate Chandar Kohli from Umerkot on Monday.

He explained that Sunita was located in Umerkot after her parents and activists filed a case. Despite her pleas that she had been abducted and forced to convert and marry, the court initially placed her in a safe house pending multiple hearings.

“The biggest problem is that in most cases the accused produce fake documents to prove their marriage is legal and from free will by the victims who are girls who mostly belong to poor families who don’t have the resources or knowledge to plead their cases,” Kohli said.

“Which is why several Hindu leaders have now been actively encouraging and more educated Hindus to get involved since this is a big issue for our community,” he added.

Just last month, another case from Sindh drew attention when a 15-year-old Hindu girl who had allegedly been abducted, raped, and forcibly married after being converted to Islam, appealed to a provincial court to be allowed to return to her family.

With PTI inputs