News
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Converted Hindu girls choose to live with husbands* SC rules all three girls are adult and in position to decide about their future
* Directs Sindh Police to provide adequate security to themStaff Report
ISLAMABAD: Three Hindu girls Rinkle Kumari, Dr Lata and Asha, who after conversion to Islam are known as Faryal Bibi, Dr Hafsa and Haleema Bibi, on Wednesday decided to live with their husbands.
The three came up with a decision after a three-member Supreme Court (SC) bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, let them decide their future.
The court earlier directed the Sindh Police to take the girls to SC’s Registrar Office and know whether they wanted to live with their husbands or families. As per their statements, the court allowed the girls to go with their husbands and ordered the Sindh Police to provide them security.
The court said that the girls should also be provided protection in line with Article 9 of the constitution, adding that it was duty of the state to provide protection to them.
The court observed that the girls were adult and in position to decide about their future as they had been given the opportunity to take a decision at their own, secured from access of any party.
The Sindh Police were also asked to submit their report to the SC’s registrar by today (Thursday) and thereafter they shall continue submitting the reports fortnightly.
Security had been beefed up inside the courtroom to avoid any untoward situation as dozens of capital police officials were on alert to stop the girls’ Hindu parents, who started crying for their daughters during the hearing.
The chief justice asked the parents to maintain discipline in the courtroom but they requested the court to record the statements of their daughters in open court. They said they did not trust Sindh Police.
Pakistan Hindu Council Chairman Dr Rumaish Kumar had moved an application in the SC raising allegations of abduction of the three Hindu girls and their forceful conversion to Islam.
At the last hearing, Faryal (Rinkle Kumari) and Hafsa (Dr Lata) were allowed to stay in the Panah Shelter House in Karachi, which is being maintained by Majida Rizvi, a former judge of the Sindh High Court.
Haleema (Asha) told the court that she had embraced Islam on her own will and wanted to go with her husband.
Talking to Daily Times, Member Provincial Assembly (MPA) Saleem Rasheed said that it would be better had the court recorded the girls’ statements in open court because “Faryal and Hafsa wanted to go with their parents at the last hearing”. Therefore, he added, doubts would remain in the parents’ minds. He said that women from the minority community were being treated like cattle.
Ramesh Lal, a PPP MNA, also questioned the court’s decision of not getting the girls’ statements through open court.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk