Pakistan: Hindu girl abducted for second time

She was earlier kidnapped and forcibly married to a Muslim man in Pakistan but escaped and returned home later.

On January 31, 2022, Meena Kohli, a nineteen-year-old Hindu girl who had married a co-religionist only three days before, and her minor sister Rekha, who is 12, were both kidnapped at gunpoint from their father’s home in the village of Durlo Hingorjo in Khipro Tehsil, Sindh, reports Bitter Winter.

Their family and the Hindu community denounced the kidnappers, a Muslim man called Iqbal Bhambro and his father Mushtaq, to the local authorities and started organizing public protests.

In a video sent to local media on Feb 20, 2022, the woman was seen reading a statement that she had willingly converted to Islam and married Iqbal freely.

Her conversion and marriage certificate were sent to the media.

This persuaded the police to stop any action, although the whereabouts of Meena’s younger sister Rekha remained unknown, reported the news portal.

On April 10, 2023, a surprising development occurred. Meena reappeared at her parents’ home claiming she had adventurously escaped from her “husband.” She came with an infant son she had given birth to in the meantime. She issued a statement, in turn sent to the media and the authorities, claiming that she was forced to record the February 20, 2022, declaration, after having been forcibly converted to Islam and raped not only by Iqbal but by other members of the Bhambro family as well. She confirmed her story before the Khipro Session Court on April 20.

On May 18, 2023, the Sindh High Court in Hyderabad opened a case against Iqbal Bhambro and his relatives.

However, no arrest has been made so far.

On June 25, 2023, while Meena, her child, and her mother were on their way to a medical visit in the local hospital, Iqbal and three other men assaulted them again. Meena was abducted for the second time, while her mother was injured, reports Bitter Winter.