A judge on Wednesday (July 9) handed a life sentence to a Muslim who found guilty of accusing a Christian girl and raping her, but ignored charges of forced conversion and fraudulent marriage, the victim’s lawyer said.
Toba Tek Singh District Additional Sessions Judge Jamshed Mubarik sentenced Ahmed Raza to life imprisonment and a fine of 100,000 Pakistani Rupees ($351 USD) under Section 376(iii) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and a 50,000 Pakistani Rupees ($176 USD) fine under Section 364-A for abducting and raping The girl, who was 12 years and 4 months old in September 2023, said Christian lawyer Hanif Hamed.
According to court orders, both sentences shall be carried out simultaneously.
The judge also ordered Raza to pay her 50,000 Pakistani Rupees (USD 176) for mental anguish and physiological damages.
When Raza and his three accomplices returned from her uncle’s house on September 29, 2023, they invited a girl whose identity was withheld as the victim of rape.
“They took the child to an unknown location, where the prisoner and three others tortured and gang raped her multiple times during her month-long prisoner,” he told Star News for Christian Daily International Morning. “The perpetrators also forced the conversion of minors and created a fake Islamic marriage certificate dated September 27, 2023, covering up the heinous crime.”
Police recovered her in the attack on October 29, 2023 and arrested Raza, but the other suspects fled and avoided arrest, Hamed said.
After her recovery, the lawyers began a criminal case and also filed a lawsuit against Raza in the family court, annuling the fake marriage. The Family Court issued a ruling in her favour on July 23, 2024, and declared the marriage invalid, Hamed said.
“The court order also stated that the child was a victim of forced conversion,” he said.
The court sentenced Raza to a strict sentence, but the lawyer said the judge should have also considered the crime of formulating fake marriage certificates.
“No records of alleged officials were found at the relevant union council,” Hameed said. “In addition, the Marriage Registrar also told the court that his signature and thumbprint were incorporated into the certificates of Americans.”
Hameed filed an application asking for the inclusion of a section relating to fraud, but the judge ignored it, he said.
“In addition, in her statement recorded in Section 164, the child was firmly said that he had been gang raped by four people and had been named. The investigator then called Section 375-A related to gang rape,” he said. “However, the judge refused to file a gang rape charge and convicted Raza only, under section 376(iii), despite our claim that many of the superior courts of judgement declared that the victim’s statement was sufficient even if no other evidence existed.”
The lawyer also expressed disappointment that the judge ignored the crime of forced conversion in his verdict.
“I submitted the orders of Family Court judge Naveed Anjum as evidence. He said the victim was a Christian by birth and she was forced to convert and exposed to false marriage,” Hameed said. “However, it appears that judges were not inclined to make judgments on this important issue.”
Despite the lapse, the verdict, he said, is a key achievement in the struggle to protect children from sexual exploitation, forced religious conversion and false marriages.
“I would also like to acknowledge the victim’s father, Razzaq Masih, that he remained immovable in his pursuit of justice for his children,” Hameed said. “Many Christian families are usually prone to avoid criminal cases against defendants due to poverty, fear of retaliation or fear of social stigma. The outcome of this case should encourage people not to remain silent about such heinous crimes.”
In its annual Human Rights Observer Report in April, the Centre for Social Justice revealed that at least 421 forced religious conversions and forced marriages were reported in Pakistan between January 2021 and December 2024. The victims included 282 Hindu girls, 137 Christian girls and two Sikh girls. 71% of the victims were minors, of which 22% were under the age of 14 and 49% were between the ages of 14 and 18. Only 13% of the victims were adults, with 16% of the ages still unconfirmed.
The report added that 69% of the overwhelming majority of cases occurred in Sindh and 30% occurred in Punjab.
In an observation of conclusions regarding the second regular review of Pakistan’s human rights records, the United Nations Human Rights Commission in November 2024 called for immediate measures to protect women, particularly religious minorities, from forced conversion to Islam and forced marriage.
“The (Committee) is concerned about reporting enduring practices of belonging to religious minorities and encouraging girls, regardless of age or general law, to marry them, and converting them to Islam under the threat of violence.
Pakistan urged that “the minimum age for marriages for both boys and girls must be raised to 18 years across the country, without exception.”
He also highlighted efforts to intensify forced conversion and forced marriage, including strengthening legal frameworks and enforcement mechanisms.
With a Muslim population of over 96%, Pakistan ranked 8th on the 2025 World Watchlist, where it is the hardest place to become a Christian.
