26 March,2019 09:00 AM IST | | Agencies
Imran Khan has ordered a probe into the incident
Lahore: At least seven people, including a man who assisted in solemnising the wedding of two teenage Hindu girls after their alleged abduction and forced conversions, have been detained in Pakistan, amid reports that the victims approached a court seeking protection.
The two girls, Raveena (13) and Reena (15), were allegedly kidnapped by a group of "influential" men from their home in Ghotki district on the eve of Holi. Soon after the kidnapping, a video went viral in which a cleric was purportedly shown solemnising the Nikah (marriage) of the two girls, triggering nationwide outrage. On March 20, the girls' family lodged a First Information Report against their alleged forced conversion to Islam.
Citing police, Dawn reported that several raids were conducted on Sunday night in Punjab's Rahim Yar Khan district - where it was believed the girls were taken from Ghotki - and arrested the Nikah Khwan who solemnised their marriages, a leader of the Pakistan Sunni Tehreek, and some relatives of the two men who had married the two girls.
The detained suspects were handed over to Sindh police, it added. Superintendent of Police Farrukh Lanjhar, who paid a visit to the girls' father Sunday night, said that action was being taken on all available information to recover the girls.
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