Bhagwan Das is a resident of Mohalla Lohana on Sawai Road in Shahdadpur (Sanghar district) and runs a wheat and cotton business in the city. He has four children, including three daughters. His elder daughter, 23-year-old Jiya Bai, is a final-year MBBS student at Liaquat Medical University, Jamshoro. Twenty-year-old Diya Bai is studying BS Psychology at the Jinnah Medical University, Karachi. Sixteen-year-old Dashina is pursuing a course at a local computer centre after matriculation. Thirteen-year-old Kartik Kumar is the youngest of his four children.

The three sisters, Jaya, Diya and Dashina, completed their education up to middle school in Shahdadpur, which was established by Zulfiqar Ali Khaskheli under his own name (ZAK) in July 2010. Bhagwan Das’ nephew, Harjeet Kumar alias Honey, also passed the eighth standard from here the same year.

Bhagwan Das’s wife Kamala Bai says that her younger daughter Dashina had gone to the computer centre with her maid on the morning of June 18 but did not return until 1pm.

“When we enquired at the centre, we were told that Dashina had not reached there that day. When Harjeet also did not return home, we became worried. We called our daughters in Jamshoro and Karachi to find out about the children but we could not contact either of them, which further increased our anxiety.”

Bhagwan Das’ ancestors have lived in the area for generations, but June 18 has left their house deserted.

Same private school till middle level

After the disappearance of the two children, Bhagwan Das’ cousin Raj Kumar got CCTV footage of the shops near the computer centre. At 9:04 am, a man was seen walking in the street with a black bag hanging over his shoulder, covering his face and head with a cloth. The same man is seen taking Dashina with him. (CCTV footage is available with Lok Sujag)

According to Raj Kumar, it was difficult to identify the man from his appearance in the blurry footage. But the family accused Farhan Khaskheli, who is the brother of Principal Zulfiqar Khaskheli and a teacher at ZAK School.
Bhagwan Das’ three daughters and nephew studied English and Sindhi with Farhan Khaskheli till eighth standard. Harjeet used to spend most of his time with Farhan, who called him his son. During the search for these two children, the disappearance of Dashina’s elder sisters Jaya and Diya was also confirmed.

Farhan belongs to the Ahle Hadith school of thought and has a deep attachment to religion. When the matter came to light, Bhagwan Das registered a kidnap case of his two children with Shahdadpur Police Station but the elder daughters were not mentioned in the FIR.

According to the FIR, Farhan, Zulfiqar, Irfan and Majeed, who are brothers, kidnapped Dashina and her cousin Harjeet alias Honey from ZAK School in a white car.

According to the FIR, Bhagwan and his cousin Raj Kumar also tried to stop the suspects but failed. 

Suspects’ arrest leads to recovery of all four children 

Rajesh Kumar Hardasani, a young member of the Hindu Panchayat in Sanghar, says that after the case, people from Lohana and other Hindu communities from all over Sindh gathered at the Dharamshala in Shahdadpur.

“That night, the members of our community met Abdul Rehman Thahim, uncle of the local PPP MPA Shahid Thahim, who invited the parties to his house at 10am the next day. He put moral pressure on the suspects to return the girls so Farhan and Zulfiqar Khaskheli said that they would try to do that.”

On the same day (June 19), the police took two suspects, Zulfiqar and his brother Farhan, into custody.

However, during this time, videos of not only Harjeet and Dashina, but also their elder sisters Jaya and Diya Bai, had been released on social media, in which they said that they had converted to Islam of their free will.

Shahdadpur DSP Tanveer Kazmi says that on the basis of evidence and Farhan’s identification, the police recovered the three sisters and their cousin Harjeet from a shelter home called ‘Gosha-i-Aafiat’ in the Banaras area of Karachi. First, they were taken to the police station concerned, Shahjahan, and then from there all four were brought to the Shahdadpur Police Station.

Bhagwan Das’ cousin Raj Kumar says that Dashina and Harjeet were picked up from Shahdadpur. Then, the suspects reached took Jiya Bai from Liaquat Medical University, Jamshoro, and Diya Bai from the Jinnah Sindh Medical University, Karachi, and left everyone at Gosha-i-Aafiat.

Girls and child refused to meet parents: IG

The parents of the girls and Harjeet kept begging the police to let them meet their daughters and the child at the Shahdadpur Police Station but the meeting was not arranged. Sindh Inspector General of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon insists that the police did not prohibit the meeting, the girls and the child themselves refused to meet their parents.

According to Raj Kumar, after efforts, at around 11:30 pm on June 19, a police officer managed to let Dashina’s mother and brother talk to her on WhatsApp call.

“The mother told Dashina to come to meet her and that the whole family was waiting for her. ‘Where are the sisters? Tell them to talk to them’. Dashina replied, ‘Mother, I will not come home, it is too late now’.”

The mother kept pleading, but there was no response from her daughter and the call was disconnected from the other end.

On the morning of Saturday, June 20, the police produced the three sisters clad in hijab and Harjeet in the court of Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate, Shahdadpur, Ijaz Ali Chandio, amid tight security.

The victims’ family's lawyer, Khuda Baksh (KB) Leghari, says that the parents of the three girls and Harjeet were made to meet in the courtroom but all four refused to go with them.

“The girls and the child, in their respective (confessional) statements in the court under Section 164, said that no one kidnapped them. We converted to Islam of our own free will and we should be allowed to live of our own free will,” he said.

The court’s verdict 

In the court, lawyer KB Leghari took the position that three girls and the boy had come to give statements under pressure. The police brought them to the court under guard, which was against free will and that their statements should be recorded after keeping them in a free and safe environment.

"Dashina and Harjeet are below 18 years of age and, according to the law, are not allowed to make decisions of their own free will. However, the law respects the will of two sisters studying in the university."

In the court, Khaskheli brothers’ lawyer Mehboob Bhambhro took the position that the girl and the child went to the shelter home of their own free will and that all of them converted to Islam without any pressure.

After hearing the parties, the judicial magistrate ordered the transfer of the three girls and the child to the shelter in Karachi.

Later, the court ruled, in its judgment, that Jiya Bai (named Maryam after conversion) and Diya Bai (named Khadija after conversion), who are MBBS and BS students, had made decisive statements that they have converted to Islam. They have constitutional protection.

The court also said that as far as the conversion of minors Dashina (Sidra after conversion to Islam) and Harjeet Kumar alias (Abdul Rafay after conversion) is concerned, “it cannot be out of box to say that that minor lacked legal capacity to abjure their religion and change of religion did not, ipso facto, deprive a parent of right to custody of child and applicants being real parents of minors are entitled to the custody”.

The court ordered that Jiya Bai and Diya Bai, being adults, to go wherever they wanted.

Minors Dashina and Harjeet handed over to parents 

Minors Dashina and Harjeet Kumar were handed over to their parents on bonds of Rs10m each

The court ruled that the parents would not pressure these children to change their religion from Islam and would allow them to practice their religion freely.

After submitting the bonds, the relatives brought Dashina and Harjeet from the shelter to their home in Shahdadpur.

Young Rajesh Kumar considers the religious conversion of Hindu girls and children in Sindh coercion and force. He demands that the minority members of parliament present in the parliament should make legislation regarding religious conversion so that Hindu children and girls can be safe.

Gosha-i-Aafiat is run by Jamaat-i-Islami

Dashina, who returned home, confirmed that Farhan’s nephew Saifullah took her to another street where Farhan had brought a car.

“He (Farhan) stayed with us till Karachi and handed us all (the three sisters and Harjeet/Abdul Rafay) over to a woman at Gosha-i-Aafiat and left.”

Gosha-i-Aafiat was set up by the Jamaat-i-Islami for homeless and destitute women on Shahrah-e-Noor in Karachi in 2001 and the party still runs it.

Before the girls reached the court, when Sohaib Ahmed, spokesperson for Jamaat-e-Islami emir Hafiz Naeemur Rehman, was asked about the three sisters, he refused their presence, saying that no such girls had come to the shelter home.

However, the spokesperson was sent a copy of the statement of the three girls in the court and the court decision ordering Jia Bai (Maryam) and Diya Bai (Khadija) to be sent to the welfare center as per their wishes.

This time, in response to questions, the spokesperson said that a woman, named Sakina Abid, had brought the three girls and the child to the shelter home at 1pm on June 18 where they were handed over to the employee

Zainab Kaleem and the administration. The girls were kept in the centre and the child in the Al-Falah Madressa.

According to Sohaib, the girls had converted to Islam three years ago and they came to the Karachi shelter to seek shelter as they needed protection from their families.

Here is another thing worth mentioning, which a member of the Shahdadpur Bar Association told Lok Sujag on condition of anonymity. He said the lawyer of the Khaskheli brothers (Mehboob Bhambhro) was consulting with fellow lawyers on legal matters a month ago so that some of the girls, including two minors, could be converted to Islam.