Court hands Hindu woman to family after alleged forced conversion and marriage

Court hands Hindu woman to family after alleged forced conversion and marriage.

Key points

• Wajih Ahmad Sheikh Published August 31, 2026 Updated August 31, 2026 09: 12pm.
• Authorities from the Sindh Home Department informed their counterparts in Punjab concerning the FIR and sought assistance in recovering the woman.
• Wajih Ahmad Sheikh is a Lahore-based correspondent for Dawn with over two decades of experience covering legal affairs and judicial developments.
• Acting on the information, Eminabad police in Gujranwala recovered the woman and produced her before a judicial magistrate on Monday.
• LAHORE: A 21-year-old Hindu woman from Sanghar district in Sindh.

Wajih Ahmad Sheikh Published August 31, 2026 Updated August 31, 2026 09: 12pm. Join our Whatsapp Channel. Add Dawn as a trusted source.

LAHORE: A 21-year-old Hindu woman from Sanghar district in Sindh. This person was allegedly lured into a relationship and persuaded to convert to Islam by a man from Gujranwala in Punjab, was handed back into her family's custody after a judicial magistrate on Monday rejected a police request to shift her to a shelter home.

In practice, the woman went missing from her hometown. Sanghar police registered an FIR on the complaint of her brother.

Meanwhile, the complainant alleged that CCTV footage from a camera installed at their residence indicated some unidentified persons forcibly taking his sister, along with valuables and mobile phones, during the night between August 23 and 24.

Her family alleged that she was lured away and taken to Gujranwala, where she was pressured to convert to Islam and marry a local man. This person was already married.

During the proceedings, the investigating officer additionally filed an application requesting the magistrate to send the woman to Darul Aman for "safe custody", claiming that she was unwilling to go with her parents.

Nevertheless, her lawyers – Asad Jamal and Kheta Ram – resisted the police request, telling the court that she was, in fact, willing to return to her parents' home with her real brother. This person was present in court. They remarked the woman additionally wanted to record her statement. The magistrate ordered that the woman's statement be recorded directly.

In her statement, given on oath, she remarked she wished to go with her brother to her parents' home in of her own free will and consent.

She continued that she faced no threat to her life and was under no pressure while recording her statement.

In his order, the magistrate ruled that, in view of the woman's recorded statement, the police request to send her to Darul Aman "is hereby turned down".

Notably, the magistrate allowed her to go with her brother, entrusting him with her safe custody and transportation back to her parents' home in Sanghar.

Personnel from Sanghar police station in Sindh were additionally present in court.

Wajih Ahmad Sheikh is a Lahore-based correspondent for Dawn with over two decades of experience covering legal affairs and judicial developments. He can be discovered on X at @wajihsheikh.

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