Disputed conversion and marriage case hinges on medical age assessment; families seek custody while court maintains protective placement

Report: Ali Imran Chattha

TANDO ALLAHYAR, Sindh (Nazrana Times): Two Hindu girls at the centre of a disputed conversion and marriage case in Tando Allahyar remain in a government safe house as the court awaits a medical report to determine their ages — an issue expected to play a crucial role in the next stage of the proceedings.

The girls, identified by their families’ legal representatives as Sita alias Tanzina and Rupai alias Dua, are alleged by their families to have been abducted, converted and married while underage. The families and their lawyers maintain that the alleged marriages violated the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act.

These allegations remain subject to judicial determination.

According to the families’ legal team, the matter came to the attention of the SSP Tando Allahyar following a complaint from the families. Police were directed to proceed in accordance with the law.
An FIR was subsequently registered under Sections 3 and 4 of the Sindh Child Marriage Restraint Act, along with other relevant legal provisions. Police later recovered the two girls and arrested the men allegedly connected with the case, according to the legal team.

Birth Records and Court Statements Raise Age Dispute

When the girls were produced before the court, lawyers representing their families submitted Birth Registration Certificates which, they say, show that both girls are minors.
However, the documents appeared to conflict with statements reportedly made by the girls under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. In those statements, according to the legal team, the girls described themselves as adults and expressed a desire to remain with the men they identified as their husbands.
Because of the conflicting claims regarding their ages, the court ordered a medical age-determination, commonly referred to as an ossification test.
Until the medical report is available, the court directed that the girls remain in a safe house rather than being handed over to either side.

Families Seek Girls’ Return

According to the families’ lawyers, during the latest proceedings the girls told the court that they wished to return to their parents.
The legal team consequently requested that the girls be released into their families’ custody. The court, however, did not grant the request while the medical age-determination report remained pending, and the safe-house arrangement continued.
The matter was listed for a further hearing on 9 September 2026.

Advocate Vinod Jaipal and Advocate Vikram Rathore, who are identified by the families as members of their legal team, said their objective is to ensure that the girls’ safety and legal rights are protected and that any person ultimately found to have violated the law is held accountable.

Rights Activist Calls for Transparency and Independent Scrutiny

Human and minority rights activist Chaman Lal expressed concern about the case and called for transparency throughout the judicial and investigative process.
Lal said that if the medical and documentary evidence establishes that the girls were under 18, their age and vulnerability should remain central considerations in how authorities handle the case.
He also said that any statement by the girls expressing a wish to return to their parents should be properly recorded and independently assessed to ensure it was made freely and without pressure, intimidation, influence or manipulation.
Lal stressed that a safe house should serve solely as a protective environment and should not become a place where either side could influence a vulnerable person’s position.
Referring to previous controversial minority-rights cases, including the case of Rinkle Kumari, Lal urged authorities to exercise particular care. He made clear, however, that he was not equating the present case with previous cases or presenting earlier allegations as established facts.
He further called for the Sindh child-marriage law to be applied without discrimination if the girls are legally established to have been minors when the marriages took place.
According to Lal, accountability should apply not only to any alleged husband found to have violated the law but also to any other person — including a marriage officiant or registrar — if evidence establishes that they knowingly facilitated an unlawful child marriage.
He also called for an independent investigation into the allegations of abduction and coercion, stressing that such questions should be determined through evidence rather than assumptions about either side.
Lal said minority families approaching state institutions for the protection of their children should receive equal treatment and protection under the law without humiliation, intimidation or unnecessary harassment.
He stressed that the demand for an impartial investigation was not directed against any religion or community but was based on the principle of equal protection under the law.

Key Questions Remain Before the Court

Several important issues remain unresolved, including the girls’ legally established ages, whether the marriages occurred when either girl was below the legal marriage age, the circumstances surrounding the reported conversions, whether any coercion or abduction occurred, and whether statements attributed to the girls were made voluntarily and without outside pressure.
The court-ordered medical age-determination report is therefore expected to be an important piece of evidence as proceedings continue.
 

Nazrana Times notes that the allegations concerning abduction, coercion, conversion and unlawful child marriage have not been established as facts by a final court ruling. This report is based on information provided by the families’ legal representatives and interviews conducted for the report. The medical age-determination report was pending at the time of the information available for this report.