Mother of teenage girl who paraded naked in DI Khan asks PHC to ensure justice

Maheen Bibi files writ petition; says her family is still receiving threats from the suspects

PESHAWAR: The mother of a teenaged girl, who had been stripped naked and paraded in Dera Ismail Khan, has filed a writ petition in the Peshawar High Court on Monday, urging the court to oversee investigations into the case, provide them with security and to redeem their ‘family honour’.

Maheen Bibi*, in her petition filed by senior lawyer Qazi Muhammad Anwar, told the Peshawar High Court (PHC) that neither have they received any justice thus far, nor have they been provided with any security against the gang responsible despite making several requests to the government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P).

She listed the K-P government through the chief secretary, K-P home secretary, Inspector General of Police, DI Khan Deputy Inspector General, Chodwan police station SHO, and a senior member of K-P Board of revenue.



The court was told that Maheen’s daughter Shahista* is an orphan living with her mother and brother Masoom Khan*.

Two years ago, Masoom was accused of having a relationship with a female relative of a local, Sarmad* and also allegedly gifted her a mobile phone.

The case was presented before the Garamat village panchayat. At the meeting of the elders, Masoom denied all charges. However, the panchayat fined him Rs500,000 which was later reduced to Rs300,000.

Masoom did ultimately pay the fine, the court was told.

On October 27, 2017, Shahista was fetching drinking water from a pond near their home.



As she passed Sarmad’s house, he along with Shahjahan, Naseem and Arif stopped her. They then allegedly forced her into a nearby house.

“Her clothes were cut off using a scissor and her dupatta was pulled away and she was left naked and then paraded in the village,” Maheen told the court in her petition.

“When I found out that my daughter was being paraded naked, I rushed to the Chodwan police station but the SHO refused to take action to protect the innocent girl from the gang,” the petitioner said.

As she was paraded naked, a villager, Rahim*, filmed the incident on his mobile phone. Maheen urged the court to declare Rahim as a suspect in the case as well.

The police, meanwhile, have claimed they have arrested eight suspects nominated in the case and are conducting investigations.

The petitioner told the court that they are still receiving threats from members of the gang who had stripped the girl naked while requests made to the K-P government to provide them with security have not yielded any results.

The petitioner urged the court to direct the K-P government to provide her family with security in accordance with the Constitution. Further, the court was urged to direct the police department to submit weekly reports into their investigations so that the PHC can make sure that justice is done.

Further, the court was also requested to declare Rahim as an accused in the case and direct the police to recover the video from his possession lest it is misused.