Woman kidnapped and paraded by landlords

Nine people blackened Zainab’s face, tore her clothes and paraded her in the street.

VEHARI: Local landlords blackened a woman’s face, tore off her clothes and paraded her in the streets for over an hour on Monday evening.

Vehari sub district Luddan village Basti Wah Deen resident Zainab Mai was alone in her home when nine people including two women broke into her home and assaulted her. The accused tore apart her clothes, blackened her face with boot polish and paraded Zainab naked in the village streets for over an hour.

“No one came to our help. Everyone just watched and stayed silent as my wife was tortured and abused,” said Zainab’s husband Nazeer Ahmed, who had been at work when the incident happened. Ahmed told the police that he had previously helped the accused in an incident involving the landlord’s daughter.

“This is how they repay my kindness? By disgracing my wife in public,” he told the police.

Ahmed told the police and reporters that his family had assisted Altaf Hussain’s family (primary accused) when his daughter Shazia had run away after marrying a person from Ahmed’s tribe.

“Things could have gotten very ugly and they might have killed her,” Ahmed said, adding “I made the arrangements and asked my family members to safely hand over the girl to her parents,” he said, adding that he had tried to avoid any bloodshed.

“This is how they repay our generosity by taking revenge on my wife for something their daughter did.

Shazia ran away with a member from our family but we forcefully returned her to her parents,” he said.

Ahmed said that Shazia had accompanied her father and mother and assisted them in assaulting Zainab. “The woman is in shock. She hasn’t said a single word and refused to speak to anyone,” Vehari Station House Officer (SHO) Mirza Asif Baig said. Baig said that his team had already arrested five people under Section 147/148, 345a/352 in an FIR (no.10/2011).

The accused include landlord Altaf Hussain, Noor Muhammad Fiaz, Baksh Khan and Muhammad Javed as well as Hussain’s daughter Shazia.

Speaking to The Express Tribune Baig said that a detailed inquiry would be held according to the law.

“I have done my duty by arresting the persons and we have been raiding different places to arrest the rest of the persons involved in this case,” he said, adding that the police officials were questioning locals in the district who had witnessed the event. “The people told us that the men paraded around the poor woman for hours as she was sobbing.

No one stopped them because everyone fears the men involved,” SHO Baig said.

Zainab Mai’s husband has appealed to the police and the Punjab government for justice and has demanded that the criminals involved be punished.

*The woman’s name has been changed to protect her identity.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 12^th, 2011.