Pak court orders police to stop harassing Indian Sikh woman who married local Muslim

A high court in Pakistan on Tuesday ordered the police to stop harassing an Indian Sikh woman, who converted to Islam and married a local Muslim man whom she had met on social media.

Sarabjeet Kaur, 48, was among 2,000 Sikh pilgrims who had entered Pakistan via Wagah border from India early this month to attend the festivities related to the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak.

The pilgrims returned home on November 13, but Kaur was found missing.

A senior police officer in Lahore later said that Kaur contracted marriage with Nasir Hussain of Sheikhupura district, some 50 kms from Lahore, a day after she arrived in Pakistan on November 4.

When the pilgrims went to Nankana Sahib the same day, Kaur skipped the gathering and reached Sheikhupura along with Hussain.

On Tuesday, Kaur and Hussain filed a petition in the Lahore High Court complaining that the police had conducted an illegal raid at their house in Farooqabad, Sheikhupura, and pressured them to end the marriage.

LHC Justice Farooq Haider ordered the police to stop harassing the petitioners.

In the petition, Kaur said a police officer caused undue harassment towards the couple and forced them to dissolve the marriage.

She said her husband is a citizen of Pakistan, and she has approached the Indian mission to extend her visa and obtain Pakistani nationality.

In a video clip circulating on social media, she said she had known Hussain for the last nine years through Facebook.

“I am a divorcee and wanted to marry Hussain; therefore, I came here for the purpose,” she said, adding that she and her husband were being harassed by police and unknown people.

Kaur is given a Muslim name, Noor, before the nikah ceremony. “I happily married Hussain," she added.

Kaur is a native of Amanipur village in Kapurthala district of India.

In India's Punjab state, her disappearance is being investigated, according to the police.

Earlier, it was reported that Kaur's husband has been living abroad for the past many years. She has two sons.