The plight of Ram Pyari Oad
Manthar is desperate because he has failed to receive justice from the courts, he found police and the civil society non-cooperative and he even did not receive a positive response from Nadir Magsi, an MPA of PPP, whose tribe’s people had kidnapped his 11 to 12-year girl. “I took Holy Quran to Nadir Magsi for recovery of my daughter, but he also did not help me.”
A meson by profession and expert in making homes from the earthen mud, Oad actually belongs to the Jhal Magsi area of Balochistan but was busy making walls for a well-off member of the Magsi tribe in the Sindh side of the Magsi area in village Gul Hassan Dhori Magsi, Taluka Qubo Saeed Khan. His family was staying at the piece of land owned by Magsis for the completion of the work. On 19th April 2015, some people from the Magsi tribe entered his home and kidnapped his daughter Rampyari.
The poor worker went to the police but they did not register a case of kidnapping. He also approached the high police official of the Larkana Division including DIG but in vain.
Ram Pyari's mother (Heeran) on May 6, 2015, filed a Criminal Miscellaneous Application in the Court of Additional Sessions Judge, Kamber under Section 491 Cr. P.C., praying therein to issue Rule Nisi through Respondent No. 2 to 5 to recover the detainee Ram Piyari and produce her before the court for recording her statement, and she may be set at liberty.
On June 2, 2015, the Additional Sessions Judge, Kamber ordered to send the girl to Dar-ul-Aman and the Dar-ul-Aman authorities were asked to get a Medical examination of Ram Pyari for the purpose of determination of age and produce her on the next date of hearing on June 10, 2015.
One of the accused kidnappers Abdul Karim son of Allah Dino Magsi filed the Criminal Miscellaneous Application No. 77/2015 in the High Court of Sindh, Larkana Circuit at Larkana against the Additional Sessions Judge, Kamber's orders of June 2. On the next hearing on June 24, 2015, the single Judge bench of the High Court of Sindh, Larkana Circuit at Larkana headed by Mr Justice Shah Nawaz Tariq permitted Fatima (Ram Pyari) to pass her life as per her choice after her statement in the court. The in-charge Dar-ul-Aman, Larkana was asked to hand over the custody of Fatima to her husband Fida Hussain after the completion of codal formalities. In an affidavit of free will submitted on 24.04.2015 Fatima swore that her marriage has already been consummated with her husband Fida Hussain out of her love and since then they were residing happily. She further submitted that neither she was kidnapped nor forced for embracing Islam for performing her Nikah with her husband. She further submitted that her statement was also recorded by the Court of Sessions Judge, Kamber-Shahdadkot and she had narrated the same facts before the said Court. She said that she may be allowed to join her husband at her own sweet will.
“I went to a Hindu lady lawyer, who is famous for taking Hindu girls’ cases. The lady lawyer asked me not to lodge an FIR,” recalls Manthar.
Some relatives had advised Manthar to hire a lawyer from his community who is practising in Umerkot.
Because he thought that a lawyer of his own community Oad would be helpful to him, so Manthar met with the lawyer Suhino Oad in Umerkot and requested him to contest his case. The reputation of the lawyer Oad is not so good in the area as his colleagues have the same impression about him and it proved when he never appeared for Manthar in court. Suhino Mal Oad always sent his junior to appear in court, who knew nothing about the legal system and did not utter a single word in support of the case in court. Mathar had already paid Suhino Oad, advocate an amount of Rs. 21,000 as a fee.
Because he thought that a lawyer of his own community Oad would be helpful to him, so Manthar met with the lawyer Suhino Oad in Umerkot and requested him to contest his case. The reputation of the lawyer Oad is not so good in the area as his colleagues have the same impression about him and it proved when he never appeared for Manthar in court. Suhino Mal Oad always sent his junior to appear in court, who knew nothing about the legal system and did not utter a single word in support of the case in court. Mathar had already paid Suhino Oad, advocate an amount of Rs. 21,000 as a fee.
Manthar is also a victim of the government doctor, who verified the age of the girl by 15 years. At the request of the father of the Sessions, the court had ordered to conduct a medical exam of the girl to ascertain her age. The Medical Superintendent of Chandka Medical College Hospital, Larkana stated that the approximate age of Mst. Fatima w/o Fida Hussain, d/o Manthar Oad appears to be about (15) Fifteen years.
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| A scanned copy of the medical certificate issued by the Medical Superintendent of Chandka Medical College, Larkana, showing the age of the girl as 15 years. |
Interestingly, the SHC judge did not object to the age of 15 years as according to a new law in Sindh (The Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act 2013) marriage cannot be solemnized at the age below 18 years.
Manthar was in Karachi till today (Aug. 13) waiting for the filing of an appeal in a division bench of the Sindh High Court against the verdict of the SHC single bench at Larkana. Although the new lawyer is quite helpful and very kind to Oad, the desperate Manthar wants to go back to the Kambar Shahdadkot area, to acquire legal documents of his children like birth certificates and B forms so he can make their passports in order to leave Pakistan. “I want to go to Delhi as some relatives are already there,” he told me.
When he told me this I did not say a word to him or asked him not to go to India. I was speechless because he said at least his family would be safe in India. In Pakistan, according to him, police, doctors, lawyers and so-called civil society are helpless and even they prove they are slaves of the influential people who do not have any mercy to poors.
(Note: All names in the above text are real).
PS:
Following is my post on FaceBook dated: September 28, 2015
Today I called on the cell phone of the late Manthar Oad, the deceased father of Ram Pyari Oad, who has been kidnapped by Magsis of Shahdadkot (backed by Nadir Magsi of PPP) and forcibly converted to Islam. The phone was picked up by Mumtaz Oad, brother of Manthar Oad. He was in Nawabshah where Manthar and his father have been buried. Oads, belonging to low caste/schedule caste Hindus bury their dead instead of cremation. I offered my condolences to him. He told me that since he had returned from Karachi, Manthar was feeling ill. "We took him to doctors, who tested his blood and took X-rays but did not find any serious sickness." Doctors said he was suffering from jaundice (not hepatitis, as I asked whether it was Kari Kaman). Mumtaz said the entire family had eaten dinner together that night and they were having chit-chat till late at night. And they found him dead early in the morning. On hearing of Manthar's death, their father also died within one hour's time. I asked a ridiculous question: whether they had drunk some poisonous liquor in the night because often sudden deaths are reported in the past because of the consumption of poisonous local wine. But he denied it. He told me the family of Manthar was with them in Nawabshah as they actually belong to that area, but Manthar went to Qambar Shahdadkot and Jhal Magsi areas for work. Oads are famous for the mud construction of homes and walls. Rip Manthar and his father.
PS:
Following is my post on FaceBook dated: September 28, 2015
Today I called on the cell phone of the late Manthar Oad, the deceased father of Ram Pyari Oad, who has been kidnapped by Magsis of Shahdadkot (backed by Nadir Magsi of PPP) and forcibly converted to Islam. The phone was picked up by Mumtaz Oad, brother of Manthar Oad. He was in Nawabshah where Manthar and his father have been buried. Oads, belonging to low caste/schedule caste Hindus bury their dead instead of cremation. I offered my condolences to him. He told me that since he had returned from Karachi, Manthar was feeling ill. "We took him to doctors, who tested his blood and took X-rays but did not find any serious sickness." Doctors said he was suffering from jaundice (not hepatitis, as I asked whether it was Kari Kaman). Mumtaz said the entire family had eaten dinner together that night and they were having chit-chat till late at night. And they found him dead early in the morning. On hearing of Manthar's death, their father also died within one hour's time. I asked a ridiculous question: whether they had drunk some poisonous liquor in the night because often sudden deaths are reported in the past because of the consumption of poisonous local wine. But he denied it. He told me the family of Manthar was with them in Nawabshah as they actually belong to that area, but Manthar went to Qambar Shahdadkot and Jhal Magsi areas for work. Oads are famous for the mud construction of homes and walls. Rip Manthar and his father.
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