According to police officials, Mumtaz and Parveen fled their home in Chiniot because they wanted to get married. “Their families filed a missing person’s report and railway authorities confirmed that they were onboard but we didn’t reach the scene until Mumtaz came to us,” said Rohri police in-charge Saeed Khan. “We went to the Rohri station, once Mumtaz told us that railway officials were illegally holding Parveen,” he said.
Parveen Lohar initially accused a railway official of raping her onboard the train but later recanted her statement while in police custody. “We wanted to get married but our parents were against it so we left home,” she said, adding “we only managed a few hours before the police caught us.”
Railway police arrested Mumtaz and Parveen from a crowded bunker and held them in separate private quarters in Rohri. The couple was presented in court, where Parveen accused the railway official of sexually assaulting her.
Mumtaz said that he and Parveen had been neighbours in Chiniot but her parents had been arranging her marriage elsewhere. “We told our families but they opposed the match and we decided the only way for us to be together was to run away and get married,” he said.
Mumtaz and Perveen Lohar left their houses and boarded the Karachi bound Karakoram train on Friday morning but were apprehended by railway officials onboard the train within four hours.
Mumtaz managed to flee from the quarters in which he was held and reached the Rohri Police Station. “I told the police that the railway officials were holding her in a cell and they came with me to have her released,” Mumtaz said. Parveen accused Railway official Muhammad Yousuf of raping her while onboard the train and later holding her in a private room in Rohri.
A Rohri police assistant sub-inspector (ASI) has arrested the railway police official. Yousuf claimed that the rape allegations were baseless but police officials have ordered a medical examination of Parveen to confirm the allegations.
After being held in police custody in Rohri for eight hours, the couple was presented before the court.
Parveen revoked her statement regarding the rape charges and both Parveen and Mumtaz have appealed to the court to allow them to get married. “We are both of age and we do not wish to return to our families,” Mumtaz said. Parveen initially accused Yousuf of raping her in a sleeper bogey but recanted her statement in front of the court. “We have still ordered a medical test to confirm the allegations,” said police official Saeed Khan, adding “Strict action will be taken against the official if he is found guilty.”
The couple was taken to the court of the first additional session judge in Sukkur, where both Mumtaz and Parveen have appealed for the police to provide them with protection. “We wish to leave for Karachi and start a new life but we need protection from our families,” he said.
The court has ordered that railway officials send the couple to Karachi. Rohri police has released two Khanewal railway officials Muhammad Yousuf and Mubarak Ali implicated by the couple for assault and is awaiting results of the medical examination.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 29th, 2011.
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