Recovered Hindu teacher complains of pressure for conversion

Paush Shuklapaksha 14, Kaliyug Varsha 5115

Peshawar : A missing Hindu female schoolteacher told a local judicial magistrate after recovery from Bahawalpur that her kidnapper had forced her to marry him after changing her faith and kept her unconscious for most of the time during captivity on refusal.

Magistrate Mohammad Fayyaz Khan ordered the local police to conduct medical examination of teacher Sapna Rani and produce its report.

The teacher, who is around 25, was recovered from Khairpur tehsil of Bahawalpur late on Saturday after investigation officer of the case Shaheenullah Khan traced her location with the help of her cellphone and that of her alleged captor, Zahid Nawaz, a resident of Bahawalpur.

The accused managed to flee.

Investigation Officer Shaheenullah Khan produced the girl before the judicial magistrate to record statement under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Ms Sapna had gone missing on Dec 21 while returning home from school in the jurisdiction of Paharipura police station. Police had registered a complaint lodged by Suresh Kumar, stated to be the teacher’s cousin.

Ms Sapna is a teacher at a private school, Peshawar Science Academy, situated on the GT Road near Ayub Flour Mills.

The kidnapping had created unrest among the local Hindu community and its leaders had appealed to the government to take notice of the incident and recover the teacher.

The investigation officer said the teacher had recorded almost similar statements with him and the magistrate.

Ms Sapna told the court that when she was returning home on the day of kidnapping, a car stopped near her and the accused person put a cloth dosed with intoxicant on her face causing her to fall unconscious.

She said she gained consciousness after a day and saw a man later identified as Zahid Nawaz present in the room.

The teacher said whenever she gained consciousness, the kidnapper used to put forward the same demand of marrying him after conversion to Islam.

She said on her refusal, the man often put intoxicant-dosed cloth to her nose.

The woman said as she remained unconscious most of the time, she was not sure whether she was sexually assaulted by the suspect or not.

The court ordered to conduct her medical examination.

The investigation officer told Dawn that this was a very challenging case for him and he conducted investigation on scientific basis as he acquired entire data of the teacher’s cellular phone.

He added that when he spotted the cellphone number of suspect Zahid, he then acquired data of his phone and traced his location.

The investigation officer said as the family of the teacher belonged to poor background he took it upon himself to recover her as the family was passing through a lot of distress.

He said prior to reaching Khairpur tehsil in Punjab, he visited several other locations and finally the exact location was traced.

The investigation officer, however, said as the house where the woman was kept was situated in the fields and police could be spotted from far away, it helped the suspect escape.

Source : The Dawn

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Missing Hindu teacher remains untraced

January 10, 2014

Paush Shuklapaksha 10, Kaliyug Varsha 5115

Peshawar (Pakistan) : A missing female schoolteacher belonging to Hindu faith could not be recovered despite passage of around 10 days creating fear among the community members that she might fall prey to forced conversion to any other religion.

“The family of the teacher, Sapna Rani, and the community members are in distress as disappearance of a female is a big issue in our society,” said the chairman of All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement, Haroon Sarab Diyal.

He stated that while the police had registered the report and had been claiming that investigation was in progress, but so far there was no noteworthy progress in the case. He added that the police had not been interrogating the colleagues of the teacher at the school especially the female members as they apprehended that they (colleagues) might be involved in taking her away because of her faith.

Mr Diyal urged the provincial government, the district administration and police high-ups to pay heed to the issue and help them in recovery of the woman.

He also asked civil society organisations to come forward and help them in highlighting the matter.

“So far we have remained silent but with each passing day our anxiety has been increasing and we are concerned about the safety of the woman,” he said.

He stated that they had now been apprehending that the teacher might be kidnapped for the purpose of forced conversion.

Sapna Rani had gone missing on Dec 21 while returning home from school in the jurisdiction of Paharipura police station.

The police had registered a complaint lodged by one Suresh Kumar, stated to be cousin of the missing teacher.

Ms Rani, 25, is a teacher at a private school, Peshawar Science Academy, situated on GT Road near Ayub Flour Mills.

The complainant stated that she had gone to school in the morning and when she didn’t return home in the afternoon, which was her normal practice, they got worried and approached the police.

The family members claimed that they had no enmity with anyone, but they suspected that she might be kidnapped by someone.

Source : Dawn