Woman raped after dance performance in Peshawar

Dancer was raped by an Afghan national who had invited her for a performance at his residence

PESHAWAR: A woman was raped in Phase-II, Hayatabad Tuesday night. The woman in question, a dancer by profession and a resident of Tehkal in the city, said she was raped by an Afghan national who had invited her for a performance in the evening.

Salma* registered an FIR with the Hayatabad police stating she was a dancer and went to perform at the residence of an Afghan national identified as Sher Ali, a resident of Phase-II. She said, after the performance, the man overpowered her and raped her.



Talking to The Express Tribune Hayatabad ASP Hassan Afzal said the woman said she had been mishandled and then raped by Ali. He said a medical examination and DNA tests have been conducted and results are awaited.

“We raided his house but he managed to flee. We arrested his watchman and armed guard and also seized an automatic AK-74 rifle, along with his nationality documents and registration papers,” Afzal said.

Blaming the victim

Speaking to The Express Tribune, women rights activist Rakhshanda Naz said unfortunately the lack of sensitivity of the middle and lower police cadres in handling rape was greater than their lack of knowledge.



“In the case of rape, they always blame women,” she said. “Irrelevant questions like ‘Why did she go out of her house in the first place? Why did she wear such clothes? Why did she have a boyfriend?’ are asked,” she added.

“Such questions are meant to shift the blame from the offenders to victims,” she said, adding the legal system of Pakistan was not fully equipped to deal with such cases and this is part of this problem.

*Name changed to protect identity

Published in The Express Tribune, March 31^st,  2016.