In a victory for Christians living in Pakistan, a 12-Year-Old Christian girl who was kidnapped by a Muslim man, raped, forcibly converted to Islam and married to him returned to her parents to the joy of the girl and her family according to a report:
Last week a landmark decision in a Lahore High Court hearing resulted in the emancipation of 12 year old Christian girl from her Muslim rapist despite her captor having an ‘official’ Islamic marriage certificate.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui accepted the petition made by the parents that the girl had been forcibly abducted and raped before being illegally married under duress to the Muslim man producing the document.
A reference was also made to the submitted National Identity Card (NIC) for the girl which illustrated that she was born on 15th December 2005. The details of the card were matched with records held by the National Databases and Registration Authority (NADRA) which confirmed that the child was below 13 years of age. Justice Siddiqqui then stipulated that as the child was under 14 years of age, she was below the legal consent for a marriage.
The evidence against the rapist became overwhelming when the terrified girl was brought to a witness stand during which she could be seen visibly weeping while she said that she had embraced Islam for the purposes of marriage and listed an Islamic name as her new name. However, during a cross examination the girl could not name any prophet but Isa (Islamic name for Jesus) and confirmed that she was illiterate. Her lack of knowledge of the Islamic faith and failure to name even one Islamic prophet barring Jesus who she said was her prophet failed to convince the court that she was a true convert
Under such compelling evidence Justice Siddiqui ordered police to investigate with great rigour the allegations made by the parents of the child. He wrote in his court order, “I am not convinced that the girl embraced Islam of her free will and in a secure environment; rather it appears to be the result of inducement and compulsion”.
“I am constrained to observe that this sort of act of abduction under the guise of Islam is totally uncalled for and unacceptable,” the judge wrote, adding that Muslims, Christians and all other citizens are equal when it comes to constitutional guarantees.
When the judge ruled that the girl return back home to her parents she rather unsurprisingly acceded to the wishes of the court without fuss and was visibly said to be overjoyed. (source)