Pakistan: 40-year-old man charged with raping, forcibly converting teenage Christian girl in Karachi
A forty-year-old man was charged with raping a minor girl in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi on Wednesday.Syed Ali Azhar forcibly converted a 13-year-old girl, then of Christian faith, to Islam and married her in October, a judicial magistrate in the city's court (south) was told.
The minor's family filed a case against Azhar and his family for kidnapping their daughter and her forcible conversion.
The magistrate ordered registration of rape charge against Azhar and a case against cleric Qazi Mufti Ahmed Jaan Raheemi, who allegedly performed the Nikah ceremony.
In his 20-page order, the judge noted Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 3 of the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act, 2013 were applicable against Azhar.
