A 15-year-old Pakistani Christian girl has allegedly been kidnapped and forced to marry her abductor.
According to Christian Today, the young woman, Saima Bibi, was kidnapped by a group of Muslim men when she was alone in a village in Pakistan’s Kasur district. She was then forced to convert to Islam and to marry one of her abductors, her family says.
Saima’s family is taking the case to court since the legal age of marriage in Pakistan is 16.
“We have been told that she has married after converting to Islam with a Muslim man Tanvir, her kidnapper." Saima’s brother, Riaz Masih said. "My sister... is 15 years old. We have her birth certificate, which will be produced before the court."
Although Saima and her alleged husband will appear in court, it is uncertain whether she will be given back to her family.
“[T]he perpetrators often take a plea of marriage and conversion to Islam so that they can save themselves from criminal charges of rape and kidnapping,” said Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill, head of the Legal Evangelical Association Development.
The Movement for Solidarity and Peace (MSP) also said that in such cases, the victim remains in the custody of her kidnapper and is often subject to “sexual violence, rape, forced prostitution, human trafficking and sale, or other domestic abuse.”
Publication date: January 14, 2016
