An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan on Wednesday sentenced three out of the eight accused to at least two years imprisonment along with fine in the case of forced kidnapping, conversion and marriage of a Sikh girl in Pakistan's Nankana Sahib in 2019.

As per the court's judgment, Muhammad Ehsan has been sentenced to jail for two years, while Muhammad Salman and Muhammad Ahmed were awarded six months imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 10,000 each. The court maintained that the accused were found guilty of inciting violence by gathering people to target and attack the Sikh community.

However, the court acquitted five others in the case, giving them benefit of the doubt.

The case gained legal attention after Jagjit Kaur, a resident of Nankana Sahib, was forcibly kidnapped from her house by Muhammad Ehsan and his family. Kaur was later converted to Islam and married to Ehsan, changing her name from Jagjit Kaur to Ayesha.

The matter gained global attention as the Sikh community demanded Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to walk the talk and fulfil the tall claims about protection of minority communities in the country and ensure the return of Kaur to her family.

The case became a global discussion as serious questions were raised over the situation of minorities in Pakistan.

Soon after the incident, the Muslims of the area gathered in big numbers outside the Nankana Sahib Gurdwara and chanted slogans, maintaining that the Sikh community was using its influence in the case, calling Kaur aka Ayesha a Muslim under the protection of the Muslim community in Nankana Sahib.

The police registered an FIR against eight suspects, accusing them of inciting people against the Sikh community, as a result of which, panic spread among the dwellers of the locality.

(IANS)