Arzoo Fatima, a minor Christian girl who converted to Islam, has requested the Sindh High Court to send her back to her parents’ house. 14-year-old Arzoo Fatima had earlier refused to go with her parents.
Arooz Fatima approached the court through the shelter home, where she lives currently, and requested to be sent to her parents’ house. Justice K. Agha presided over the hearing of the case of child-marriage and conversion to Islam.
In the petition, it was stated that the court had sent Arooz Fatima to a shelter home after it was proved that she was married at an early age. The petition stated that Arooz Fatima now wants to leave the shelter home to live with her parents.
The court summoned the minor girl to adjourn the case hearing. Justice K. Agha remarked that the court will decide after Arzoo Fatima’s statement. The court also issued notices to the Sindh government and other relevant parties.
Last year, Arzoo was recovered from her husband’s home and shifted to a shelter home on the orders of the Sindh High Court. Her husband was arrested on the charges of sexaul assault of a minor and remanded into police custody.
Arzoo’s father, Raja Masih, filed an FIR on 13 October 2021, claiming she was kidnapped from her house in Railway Colony In Karachi. Upon investigation, the police found that she had been married to a man named Syed Ali Azhar.
Azhar presented a nikkahnama, free-will affidavit, and a Sanad-e-Islam certificate in his defense and insisted that Arzoo had converted and married him at her own will.
The court, however, had ruled that this was a child marriage case after it was proven that Arzoo is 14 years old and ordered that she will remain in a shelter home until she turns 18. The laws in Sindh bar anyone under the age of 18 from marrying anyone.
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