August 31, 2026
By Xari Jalil
LAHORE
A 21 year old Hindu woman, was allowed by the judicial magistrate in Gujranwala on Monday to return to her family in Sanghar district, rejecting a police request to place her in a Dar-ul-Aman shelter home for “safe custody”.
Reeta Khatri, daughter of Vishan Das of Rana Rajput Colony, Sanghar, went missing after she was dragged outside her own house on the night of August 23-24. Following this, her brother lodged an FIR with the Sanghar police, alleging that unidentified people had forcibly taken his sister from their residence along with valuables and mobile phones.
Lahore based human rights lawyer, Kheta Ram, who is the cousin of Reeta, told Voicepk that she had been brought to Gujranwala, where she was allegedly persuaded to convert to Islam and marry a local man who was already married. He also shared a CCTV video showing his cousin’s abduction from her home by a masked man. She was also made to place her thumbprints on a nikah nama as well as a conversion form, and changing her name to Ayesha Fatima.
After being informed about the case by the Sindh Home Department, Punjab authorities initiated efforts to trace the woman. Eminabad police eventually recovered her from Gujranwala and produced her before the judicial magistrate on Monday.
The investigating officer asked the court to place the woman in Dar-ul-Aman, claiming that she was unwilling to return to her parents and therefore needed to be kept in “safe custody”. The request was opposed by her lawyers Asad Jamal and Kheta Ram, who maintained that the woman was willing to return to her family. They told the court that her brother was present and that she wanted to record her statement before the magistrate.
The court subsequently directed that the woman’s statement be recorded directly.
“Want to return home”
In her statement, made on oath, the woman said she wanted to return to her parents’ home in Sanghar with her brother and was doing so of her own free will and consent. She also told the court that she was not facing any threat to her life and that no one was pressuring her while she recorded the statement.
CCTV footage where Reeta is seen abducted
The magistrate, citing the woman’s statement, dismissed the police application for her placement in Darul Aman.
The court instead handed her over to her brother, entrusting him with her safe custody and transportation to their parents’ home in Sanghar. Personnel from Sanghar police were present during the proceedings.
Asad Jamal told Voicepk that they would be filing an application before the Secretary Local Government along with the court order, so that there will be an inquiry by the DG and the local Gujranwala authority against the nikah khwan who tried to solemnise nikah, especially when the accused Anas Nazir’s present wife had not allowed the second marriage to happen.
“The nikah will then be voided and the nikah khwan’s license should also be cancelled,” he said. “On the nikah nama, the nikah khwan had written that ‘I am preparing this nikah nama on temporary basis because the previous wife of Anas Nazir has not provided me permission to solemnise marriage’.
According to Kheta Ram, the accused Anas Nazir has been known to be part of a group that works in similar ways, aducting young women and trafficking them.
“He has also been responsible for the abduction of a Christian girl from Karachi before,” said Ram.