London, Oct 13(ANI): A Christian girl was kidnapped and repeatedly raped for eight months in Pakistan by a friend's uncle, who also falsified marriage documents with her, it has been claimed.
The 12-year-old girl was lured on a shopping trip in Lahore by her friend, before she was kidnapped and driven 120 miles to Tandianwalla and raped by the friend's uncle in January, Mail Online reports.
Two days later, she was forced to sign papers consenting to marriage with the man and beaten for refusing to convert from Christianity to Islam, the report said.
She was then held against her will for eight months, before managing to escape and contact her family, it added.
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has said that the rapists have not been arrested because of their affiliation with a militant Muslim organisation - the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT).
It claims that the police have refused to order a medical check-up on the girl, and have warned her parents that it would be better for them to hand over the girl to her 'legal' husband, or a criminal case would be filed against them, the report said.
An investigation into the kidnapping found that the girl's father had reported her disappearance in January and made complaints against her abductors, but police took no action for eight months.
Last month, the girl called her family from Tandianwalla and told them she had been abducted, but had escaped and was hiding at a bus stop, following which her parents travelled to the town and rescued her, before taking her to a local magistrate to give a statement.
According to the report, the rapists then contacted the police through their religious group and produced a marriage certificate that claimed to show that one of them was married to the girl.
As a result of their complaint, the Christian family has gone into hiding as LeT members are searching for them, the report said, adding that the militant group claims that the girl is pregnant, but her mother has denied this is true.
The AHRC said that police never asked the religious group how a 12-year-old could be married, as the legal age for marriage in Pakistan in 16.
It claims that the Punjab provincial government is patronising banned militant organisations, the report said.
Meanwhile, the British Pakistani Christian Association has launched a petition calling on the Pakistani government to investigate the attack. (ANI)
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