GHRD is currently working on the case of Kajal
Bheel. Kajal is a 12-year-old girl from the Sindh province in Pakistan. On the
21st of October this year, Kajal was home alone with her brother when the
perpetrators broke into the family house and abducted Kajal. Her uncle
witnessed the incident from across the street but could not intervene as the
perpetrators were carrying weapons.
Her parents later found out that their daughter
had been forcefully married to one of the perpetrators and tried to lodge a
First Investigation Report (FIR). However, the police were unwilling to help
them. The family was summoned to the court where man unknown to them handed
over a marriage certificate on which Kajal’s name had been changed.
Child marriages and
forced conversions are illegal in Pakistan, and minors (people under the age of
18) are not allowed to marry. Because of this Kajal has been ordered by court
to take a medical exam to prove that she is 12 years old, despite having a
valid birth certificate. The medical exam stated she is 17 (which means she is
still a minor). Nevertheless, the judge has decided to
apply Sharia law instead of The Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act and
according to Sharia law, a girl is considered to be an adult as soon as she
reaches puberty. Therefore, the
court is claiming Kajal is an adult and there is no claim to a legal case, as
Kajal has given evidence in court that she wanted to marry the perpetrator. However,
there is reason to believe she was pressured to make this statement as the
perpetrator was present during the court session.
Kajal’s second court hearing was supposed to be
held on December 3rd. However, it was postponed as the judge felt he did not
want to deal with the case anymore. The following court hearing was supposed to
be held on December 9th. The court hearing was once again postponed until the
19th of December; during which two other similar cases on forced conversions
will also take place. At present, Kajal is still with her perpetrators.
Demonstrations and seminars have been held in
the Sindh province of Pakistan in order to stand up against forced conversions
and child marriages and raise awareness.
Tomorrow, December 10th, demonstrations will be held in Washington
D.C. on the same topic.
We have seen many similar cases like the one of
Kajal. It is very common for young girls to be the victim of abduction,
forceful marriages and religious conversions. The only way to stop this is to
put pressure on the national government and encourage them to take action
against forced conversions of young girls.
You can sign the
petition here: http://ghrd.org/get-involved/petitions/save-kajal/
You can also follow
the hash tag #SaveKajal on Facebook and Twitter in order to stay updated.
3 comments:
Forced conversion of minor Hindu girls into Islam is a serious human and child rights issues in Sindh, Pak. This issue needs urgent attention particularity the civil society organizations including national and international ngos, media and political parties to put continuous pressure on government of Pak until they do not introduce legislation against forced conversion and implement Sindh Child marriage restraint act.
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