ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a response from the federal government pertaining to the law addressing the issue of forced conversions, DawnNews reported.

The apex court also issued release orders for the three newly-converted Muslim girls.

A three-member bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Tariq Parvez heard the case pertaining to the alleged forced conversion of the three girls from the Hindu religious community.

The bench declared that the three — Faryal Bibi (Rinkle Kumari), Hafsa Bibi (Dr Lata) and Haleema Bibi (Asha Kumari) — were free to take up any religion that they wanted and that they were also free to decide about their future.

Ordering law enforcement agencies to provide security to the three, the bench said they were old enough to decide for themselves.

Earlier, the apex court had allowed Faryal and Hafsa to stay at a shelterhome in Karachi for a period of three weeks enabling them to make an independent decision for their future.

The girls' parents had claimed that they had been kidnapped, forcefully converted and married. However, addressing a press conference, Faryal had said that she had not been forced by anyone to change her religion. She liked the teachings of Islam and therefore converted and married Naveed Shah of her own will.