Woman stripped, paraded: Police take notice after road-block

" Ahmed broke into my house and tried to rape me. He fled when I started shouting to 

draw neighbours’ attention," Complainant.

MAILSI: An FIR was registered on Tuesday against a landlord for allegedly stripping a woman and parading her in Mailsi after a protest demonstration where residents of the area blocked the highway by burning tyres followed by a sit-in that lasted for over two hours.

The protest ended when Mailsi police reached the scene and took Shazia*, 25, to the Meerapur police station for registration of her complaint against Ghulam Ahmed*.

The complaint told The Express Tribune that her tormenters were now threatening her with dire consequences if she proceeded with the complaint.

The demonstrators in Kotli Junaid told The Tribune that the woman was dragged through the streets by one the suspect and his accomplices over resistance to Ahmed’s bid to rape her.

Muhammad Arif, a neighbour, said nobody had dared step out of their homes to rescue the woman until after the suspects had fled. “They are feared in the area because of their connections to influential politicians,” he said. Arif said he and some other neigbhours had escorted her to the Meerapur police to report the incident.

The report of a medical examination of the woman at Mailsi tehsil headquarters (THQ) hospital, stated that she had suffered bruises. Dr Durdana Irfan who examined her said: “There are wounds on her body and legs.”

SHO Nadir Khan said a man had been taken into custody for questioning but refused to identify him. He said the FIR had been registered against four men and two women.

The complainant told The Tribune that said earlier Ahmed had broken into her house and tried to rape her. “He fled when I started shouting to draw neighbours’ attention,” she said. However, she added, the suspect returned with more men after an hour. “They beat me up and dragged me out of the house where they stripped me and paraded me through the streets,” she said. The woman said she was living with her two daughters. She said her husband was in Saudi Arabia.

*Names have been changed to protect the identity of the complainant and the suspect

Published in The Express Tribune, April 18th, 2012.