Public disgrace: Marrying man beaten, humiliated by girl’s family

They painted his face black, paraded him on a donkey in front of a mob.

FAISALABAD:

A man was beaten, humiliated and paraded on a donkey by a woman’s family for contracting a court marriage with her. The man was later rescued from the mob by the police.

The man was taken to a hospital and treated for his wounds. His parents later approached the judicial magistrate and sought directions to the police to register a case against the girl’s family for beating their son and implicating him in a case which they said was false. They also asked the magistrate to order the police to conduct their son’s medical examination after which the magistrate directed the senior superintendent of police to probe the matter. A medical examination has, however, not been done yet.

Ghulam Dastagir, a resident of Chak 553-GB, married a widow in court two weeks ago. The couple then moved to Jhang and started living there.

Last Friday, the girl’s family registered a case against Dastagir at the Mamonkanjan police station accusing him of abducting their daughter. They also said that Dastagir had “seduced” their daughter into marrying him.

On Friday, they located the couple and brought them back to the village in Faisalabad, where they took the girl home and tied the man to a pillar and beat him. They later put a shoe garland around his neck, painted his face black and paraded him in the streets on a donkey, while people chanted swearing slogans at him for “bringing a bad name to the village”.

The man was rescued by the mob after the police arrived and dispersed them.

A Mamonkanjan police official told The Express Tribune that the police were already looking for Dastagir after the girl’s family registered an abduction case against him.

However, he said, no case has been registered against anyone from the girl’s family so far. “But we have started the investigation on court orders,” he said.

Witnesses said the girl’s family had called people from the neighbourhood to view the “humiliation”.

Muhammad Jamil, a resident of the area, said there were more than two dozen spectators. “Some six men slapped and kicked the accused and beat him with sticks.”

No one even tried to rescue the accused, another witness said. “There was a rumour that the girl’s family had plans of killing him but then somebody called the police,” he said.

Some locals, however, condemned the incident, calling it “merciless”.

Gulzar Ahmad, a resident of the area, said that there was no proof that Dastagir had abducted the girl or forced her into the marriage. He said he should have instead been handed him over to the police.

Another resident, Noor Ahmad, urged the government to take notice of such “inhuman” practices and stressed the need for legislation banning such practices.

“If a person is an offender, he should be punished in accordance with the law. Taking the law in ones own hands is itself punishable,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 26^th, 2012.