Court orders police to recover teenage Christian bride Arzoo Raja

The Sindh High Court has asked the Karachi police to recover and produce Arzoo Raja — a teenage Christian girl allegedly abducted and forced to marry a man thrice her age after conversion to Islam– in the court on Nov 5.

Sindh Chief Minister’s spokesperson Murtaza Wahab confirmed this development. He said the high court ordered the police to recover the teenage girl in response to an application filed by the SHC. The girl is supposed to located within five days and then moved to a shelter home, he tweeted.

Today the Sindh High Court, on the application filed by #SindhGovt has ordered police to locate #Aarzoo within 5 days and shift her to a shelter home

— Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui (@murtazawahab1) November 2, 2020

The CASE:

On Oct 27, a two-member bench of SHC had admitted a petition filed on behalf of Arzoo Raja that claimed that she was 18 years old and had married Ali Azhar and converted to Islam with her free will, according to a report in Newsday Pakistan.

The petition also sought protection against alleged harassment of the girl’s family. Underage girls in such cases in Pakistan come under intense pressure, including threats to them and their families, to give false statements in court.

Azhar allegedly abducted Arzoo in Karachi’s Muhalla Railway Colony West Camp Road locality on Oct. 13, according to the family, which registered a kidnapping case on the same day. On Oct. 15 police summoned them to the local station and showed them documents claiming that Arzoo was 18 years old and had willingly converted to Islam after marrying Azhar.