ISLAMABAD: In a shocking development, a court in Pakistan has given custody of a 13-year-old Christian girl to the Muslim man accused of kidnapping her before forcibly converting her to Islam and marrying her, a report has detailed, citing a rights advocate.
Joseph Janssen, Chairman of the advocacy group 'Voice for Justice', said the the verdict was issued despite a pending-court ordered medical test to find the age of the girl. Janssen said Faisalabad Additional District and Sessions Judge Rana Sohail accepted an affidavit given by the minor, Amber Nadeem, in which she said that she had converted to Islam and married the suspect, Mohsin Liaqat, as per her own choice and mentioned that she was not kidnapped. He said the judge granted post-arrest bail to Liaqat after the minor girl recorded her statement, a report in Christian Daily International mentioned.
"He (Liaqat) had been in judicial custody since June 26. Amber then left the courtroom with the accused’s relatives and lawyers while her impoverished parents stood by in tears after witnessing a grave injustice," Christian Daily International quoted Janssen as saying.
He said further that, on June 27, Amber appeared before a judicial magistrate and said that members of the accused's family had pressurised her to falsely say that she was an adult. Subsequently, the suspect submitted a conversion and marriage certificate which mentioned Amber's date of birth as June 2008, while her parents got married in 2012, sparking questions regarding the credibility of the documents.
"In light of these glaring inconsistencies, the magistrate ordered a medical examination to determine Amber’s age and directed that she be placed in a government shelter home pending further proceedings," said Jannsen.
The activist raised questions on the sessions court's decision to grant custody of the girl to the accused and bail to Liaqat before the medical examination had been conducted, the Christian Daily International reported.
Earlier this month, the European Parliament adopted a resolution condemning the abduction, forced conversion, and child marriage of underage girls from religious minorities in Pakistan, while expressing concerns over the broader pattern of such abuses.
According to the European Parliament, the resolution particularly highlighted the case of Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Pakistani Christian girl who was abducted, converted to Islam, and forcibly married to her abductor in March 2026. The Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) stressed the need to ensure her legal representation, family access, and psychological support.
Citing 2025 UN figures, the resolution said that among women and girls affected by forced conversion through marriage in Pakistan, around 75 per cent were Hindus and 25 per cent Christians.
“MEPs are calling for her to have access to legal representation, her family, and psychological support. They condemn similar abuses committed against underage girls belonging to religious minorities, underlining that her case is emblematic of broader human rights violations faced by minorities in Pakistan; according to UN figures in 2025, among women and girls affected by forced conversion through marriage, around 75 per cent were Hindu and 25 per cent were Christian,” the European Parliament stated.
“Parliament urges Pakistan’s authorities to fully implement the country’s national framework to end child marriage, as is already the case in some provinces of the country, and create a national mechanism for handling complaints from families of abducted or forcibly converted girls from minorities,” it added.
--IANS
