(Worthy News) – A High Court in Pakistan has finally returned a 14-year-old Christian girl to the custody of her family after she was abducted and forced to marry a Muslim man in 2020, International Christian Concern (ICC) reports.
An estimated 1,000 women and girls from Pakistan’s Hindu and Christian communities are kidnapped by Islamists and forced to marry their captors every year.
Arzoo Raja was abducted from her home in Karchi on October 13, 2020, and was forced to marry Ali Azhar, a 44-year-old Muslim man, ICC said. When Raja’s parents reported her missing, police claimed that Azhar had produced a marriage certificate stating she was 18 years old. Azhar also told police Raja had willingly converted to Islam.