LAHORE, Pakistan — A Pakistani court awarded custody of a kidnapped Christian girl to the man who had abducted her.
Roshni Shakeel, 13, was taken March 13 from her home in Basti Khaliq Pura in Punjab province, report the news services Christian Daily International and Morning Star News.
Her captor — 28-year-old Muazzam Mazhar — has since forced the girl to convert to Islam, marry him and tell a court March 25 she did so willingly, sources say.
Muhammad Umar Ashraf, attorney for the girl’s father, expressed “dismay” that the judge presiding over the custody case did not consider Roshni’s physical condition, birth certificate and other evidence demonstrating that she is underage.
Her father said the judge, instead, congratulated her on the marriage.
‘[She] is just a child’
“Roshni is just a child. How can I let that criminal exploit her and then, God forbid, sell her into slavery?” her father said to the news services. “I will not stop till I rescue my daughter.”
Ironically, this court decision happened after a justice issued an interim order Feb. 28 that authorities are to implement the laws prohibiting child marriage “in letter and spirit,” the news services state.
Pakistan is No. 7 on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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