Karachi HC orders Pak police to find Hindu woman 'forced to marry' Muslim under 'politician's influ

Islamabad, Mar 7 (ANI): The Karachi High Court has ordered the police to find a Hindu woman who was allegedly abducted and forced to marry her Muslim husband.

The family of Rinkle Kumari has complained in their petition before the Karachi High Court that her abduction was supported by a powerful politician, the BBC reports.

Her husband's friends, however, say that she voluntarily left home in the Sindh province and willingly converted to Islam.

Meanwhile, Karachi High Court Judges demanded that Kumari be produced before them next week.

Human rights activists say that other reported abductions of members of minority communities in Pakistan, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, have not been properly investigated by the authorities.

In the most recent case, Hindu community leaders say that an oath Kumari made in front of a court in her home town that she had freely got married and converted to Islam was made under pressure.

They say that many others like her have been forcibly taken away by powerful politicians - some allied to the governing Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

The Hindu community has accused one of the party's MPs, Abdul Haq, of supporting the abduction and the forced conversion.

Kumari's family say that she was kidnapped from her home on February 24 by Naveed Shah, who later married her. They also claimed to have had registered a police complaint against Shah even though he appeared in court on February 25 with Kumari, who made a statement before the magistrate that she had married him of her own free will.

Meanwhile, Haq said that his supporters would abide by the court ruling and that Ms Kumari would appear in court on March 12. (ANI)