Zarvia Pervaiz

Extra Bio Info:

Zarvia Pervaiz was subjected to forced renunciation of faith. 

In April 2022, 12-year-old Pervaiz, a Christian girl from Rawalpindi, Punjab Province, was abducted by a 40-year-old man and his wife, coerced into converting to Islam, and marrying the man. The couple, who had been taken in by Pervaiz’s family during a financial hardship, lured Pervaiz away from her home and subjected her to psychological coercion, including threats of violence against her family, if she did not comply with their demands. When Pervaiz’s family filed a first information report (FIR), the couple was detained, and Pervaiz, rather than being kept in a children’s shelter, was confined in a police holding cell with one of her abductors. 

In May 2022, a court temporarily discharged the kidnappers after police authorities recommended that they not be charged. During the proceedings, the court denied Pervaiz legal counsel and accepted her verbal testimony that she converted and married out of her own free will, despite her being a minor and evidence that her statement was made under duress. The court also failed to perform a mandatory medical examination for suspected victims of kidnapping or trafficking. 

In August 2022, Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan of the Rawalpindi Bench of the Lahore High Court dismissed the case in minutes, stating, "The girl is 12, she is married, and she did it out of her free will." Among the evidence not considered was a recorded phone call between Zarvia and her brother after her abduction, in which she said, "They are saying I have to do as they say, otherwise, they will kill my brothers."