Ravita Meghwa, a 16 year old girl and daughter of a Pakistani Hindu Sataram Das Meghwar has been converted and married off to Syed Nawaz Ali Shah without the consent or knowledge of her parents. Parents say that their daughter is kidnapped from her village near Nagarparkar Town on June 6th. Haqu, mother of Ravita, insisted that her daughter was kidnapped by the influential Syed community, forcibly converted and then married. She has been named as Gulnaz after conversion to Islam. Shah is 36year old. and the marriage is conducted in registrar office in union council Gulzar Khalil in Samaro of Umerkot district of Karachi. Marrying of girls under 18 is a punishable offence under the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013. The registrar had mentioned Shahs year of birth (1980) and the national identity card number on the marriage certificate. But, the registrar mentions only the age of the girl as 18 years without mentioning the date of birth during marriage and national identity card (NIC) number mentioning her age/DOB. Similarly, the certificate of conversion to Islam did not mention her NIC number but mentioned her age as 18 years. An FIR has been registered (in second week of June) at the Dano Dandhal police station in Nangarparkar taluka and a case has been filed in Sindh High Court (SHC) through advocate Bhagawandas.
Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat, Ghousia Jamat and Jeelani Jamat and other political outfits of Pakistan are openly supporting the Muslim husband. Bhagchand Meghwar of PPP-SB (Pakistan People Party - Shahid Bhutto) and other activists are opposing the forceful conversion of the girl. Various Jamaat activists are on the streets to oppose what they called the propaganda with "blasphemous contents" on social media in the wake of Ravitas conversion to Islam.
The bench headed by Justice Salahuddin Panhwar ordered Mirpurkhas DIG and Tharpakr SSP to produce Ravita on June 22, the day of next hearing. Next case hearing is scheduled for 30th June.
Earlier, Shah and Ravita had filed an application in the SHC seeking protection and accusing the girls parents of issuing death threat. Ravita has appealed to her parents to let her live with her husband happily as, according to her, she had taken the decision to embrace Islam to marry the person of her choice. She requested the people of her community and members of civil society to stop raising the issue further. "I am very satisfied and happy after marrying Nawaz Ali Shah and now I cannot [live] without my husband," she said yesterday and made it clear that she was not kidnapped. "I willingly went with Shah after falling in love with him." Ravita expressed the hope that the court would do justice with her and allow her to live with her husband.
Not just the girl, her parents, and political supporters are under pressure in Pakistan from Islamic organizations. It is possible that Ravita may depose in the court in favor of her abductors and against her parents.
The pattern of aggression against Hindu girls is same. Hindu girls, often shortsighted and selfish, become prey to non-Hindu and many times anti-Hindu men. The men need not be unmarried. Non-Hindu man need not be compatible in age, education qualification, appearance and economic levels. Parents of Non-Hindu man play their role. Encourage their son and exhibit their liberal face till marriage. During marriage, invariably non-Hindu rituals are followed. Either a contract or a commitment in writing is taken from the Hindu girl contradictory to the oral agreements. Opposition from the girl relatives to the marriage is circumvented through abductions and elopements. False imagery of post married life is sustained by the non-Hindu community. Simultaneously, threats and fear is implanted in the mind of the Hindu girl about the safety of her parents. Hindu girl will be misinformed and misled about the developments in her family, in police stations and in courts. She would be encouraged to depose against her parents before and in the aftermath of marriage. Some time after the marriage, un-Hindu and many times aDharmik marriage norms are imposed by husband and his family members. Legal or social structures can not prevent such imposition. Parents can not come to the rescue of the girl. The Hindu girl either accepts her fate or does not understand that she is exploited.
Or is it that Hindu girl is happy in a Muslim or Christian home? or Is the love (lust) of a liberal women fulfilled in such surprising scenario? Is a Liberal Woman meant for Love Lurkers?
