J&K conversion row: After being restored to family, Sikh woman married to man from community

Srinagar, June 29

A Sikh woman, who was restored to her family from her alleged kidnapper amid allegations of forced conversion, was on Tuesday married off to a man from the Sikh community.

“The girl was married to Sukhbir Singh today. They knew each other and there was no coercion or force used (against the girl),” Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Delhi president Paramjit Singh told reporters here.

He thanked all the people who made the marriage possible.

Asked if the 18-year-old woman was already married to a Muslim man following her alleged conversion, he said no marriage had taken place.

He appealed to people to maintain the age-old communal harmony in Kashmir.

“We do not want any (anti-conversion) law. The majority community has to take care of the minority community,” he added.

Singh said the Sikh community wanted to set up a major hospital in Kashmir on a plot owned by Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee.

“We have around 81 kanals of land (8.125 acres). A part of it is under occupation of the tillers. We want to pay them due compensation and take back the land for establishing a big hospital for people here,” he added.

SAD leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa had alleged on Monday that four Sikh women were forcibly married and converted to Islam in Kashmir recently and demanded that they be returned to their families. PTI