Friday, July 31, 2020

Pakistan Court Allows Parents of Sikh Girl to Meet Her

 Nankana Sahib Sikh girl Jagjit Kaur alias Ayesha Bibi

Lahore, Jul 29 (PTI) A Pakistani court has allowed the parents of a Sikh girl to meet her at a shelter house in Lahore but rejected the same request of a Muslim man who allegedly married the teenager after abducting her.

The Lahore High Court on Tuesday held the hearing of separate petitions filed by parents of Jagjit Kaur of Nankana Sahib and her alleged husband Muhammad Hassan, seeking permission to meet her in Darul Amaan (shelter house).

Kaur’s family has accused Hassan of marrying her after abducting and converting her to Islam in September last. She has been living in the shelter house in Lahore on the court''s order since then.

"After arguments by the counsel for Jagjit Kaur’s parents, the court admitted their petition and allowed them to meet her in Darul Amaan. However, the court dismissed the petition of Hassan,” a court official told PTI on Wednesday.

This issue snowballed into a controversy after the family of Kaur, in a video message that had gone viral, claimed that she was abducted and forcibly converted to Islam by Hassan in September, 2019.

Subsequently, in January Hassan''s elder brother Imran Chishti allegedly incited a mob in the name of religion and threatened to destroy the minorities worship place (Gurdwara Janamasthan).

Gurdwara Nankana Sahib, also known as the Gurdwara Janam Asthan, is the site where the first Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Nanak Dev, was born. It is regarded as one of the holiest Sikh sites.

Police arrested Chishti, a government employee, and booked him under anti-terrorism act.

Chishti had claimed that Hassan had been beaten up by police for “lawfully” marrying the daughter of the gurdwara''s granthi. He alleged that Hassan has been pressured by police and authorities to divorce her so that she returns to her parents’ house.

https://www.outlookindia.com/newsscroll/pak-court-allows-parents-of-sikh-girl-to-meet-her/1905382

Dr.Gurdeep Kaur
Associate Professor
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College
University of Delhi


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