Parents Of Abducted Christian Teenage Girl Forced To Convert

In a fresh incident of horrific string of forced conversions of minorities’ girls in Pakistan, another Christian minor girl has been abducted and forced to convert. This time, the situation escalated when the abductors demanded that the parents of the abductee, identified as Meerab Polus must convert also.

Meerab, who is merely 15-years-old, was abducted from her house on June 22, 2022. The abductor intruded her house when her parents were asleep upstairs. The culprit, who is a family friend and neighbor drugged her, when the girl fell unconscious she was taken away with the help of a half-brother.

Fortunately, a neighbor saw the culprits loading the unconscious girl in the car, informed her parents. When Meerab’s parents approached the family of the abductor (who is a family friend), they were told plainly to convert to Islam and then give their daughter in marriage to the abductor.

After realizing the gravity of the matter, Meerab’s parents approached the local police station but to no avail. The police refused to register an FIR, maintaining that their daughter had eloped with e abductor willingly. The abductor and his family produced forged documents claiming that Meerab is 18 year old and has willfully opted to marry the abductor.

Consequently, her parents have filed a court case challenging the documents produced by the abductor. The culprits have produced a conversion certificate, a marriage certificate and other fake documents supporting their claim that Meerab is legally 18 years old. The Child Marriage Restraint Act, however, states that, “If a person, not being a minor, contracts child marriage, he shall be liable to punishment of simple imprisonment which may extend to six months and fine of fifty thousand rupees.”