Police arrest five over gouging woman’s eyes

DERA GHAZI KHAN: In a major breakthrough, police claimed to have arrested five suspects who allegedly gouged out a woman’s eyes a few days back in Muzaffargarh.

Muzaffargarh DPO Owais Ahmed Malik told The Express Tribune on Friday that the main suspect behind the incident Rasool Bakhsh and his four accomplices had been arrested, while raids were being conducted to nab other culprits nominated in the FIR. He added that the victim had levelled serious charges against the suspects and the police will take all measures to apprehend them.

Muzaffargarh RPO Rehmatullah Niazi said, “This case is not related to honour as the suspects targeted Shareefan Bibi while she was returning from the court.”

“In fact, it seems that the woman was tortured over a marriage dispute,” Niazi maintained. The RPO said special teams had been formed to arrest the culprits and the police will utilise all its resources to punish them.

Meanwhile, Shareefan’s daughter Nusrat Bibi expressed dissatisfaction over police performance and alleged that the police had been patronising the suspects. She said she feared for her life as the culprits were roaming freely in the area. Nusrat urged the police to apprehend the culprits and award them exemplary punishment.



Earlier on November 2, a woman’s eyes were gouged out and her limb cut off by her brothers over a dispute.  One of the suspects, identified as Muhammad Afzal, had suspected that his sister Shareefan Bibi, 40, was involved in the kidnapping of his daughter Asia who was abducted a week ago from the same locality. Police said Afzal had also registered a case at the police station regarding his daughter’s disappearance against Shareefan.

On November 1, Afzal and his brother Mohammad Munir sent the former’s son Muhammad Aslam to call Shareefan for a court hearing. When she was on her way, three men caught her and gouged out her eyes with a sharp knife. They also cut off her feet and fled from the scene.

The woman, who has five children, was taken to a rural health centre by a passerby where she was referred to Nishtar Hospital Multan. Doctors at the hospital said that the victim was in a critical condition, terming the next 12 hours crucial.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th, 2016.