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 Legal victory for Pakistani Christian woman

In a significant legal victory against forced conversions and marriages in Pakistan, a civil court has annulled the marriage of a Christian woman who was given to a Muslim man as a child and coerced to convert to Islam and marry him, sources said.

Last month Bahawalpur civil judge Afzal Baig ruled in favour of 25-year-old Shahida Bibi, declaring her marriage to the Muslim man invalid and reversing her coerced conversion to Islam, said her attorney, Lazar Allah Rakha.

‘The judge directed the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) to make a fresh identity card for Bibi, restoring her religious status as Christian and deleting her marital status,’ Rakha told CDI-MSN. ‘It’s a rare case where justice has been served in a religious conversion matter.’

Shahida’s ordeal began at the age of 11, when her mother eloped with a Muslim in 2012. This man then handed the girl over to his brother, who sexually exploited her and, after she turned 18, forced her to enter into an Islamic marriage or Nikah.

During this time, Shahida gave birth to two children while trapped in the forced marriage; one was born with physical disabilities and died after four years, Rakha said. Voice.