Marital woes: ‘Don’t you dare leave me’

Hafiz throws acid on wife for trying to dissolve the marriage.

BAHAWALPUR:

A man threw acid on his wife after she moved the court for dissolution of her marriage on Friday.

According to residents of Tibba Badr Sher, Muhammad Hafiz married Farkhanda ten years ago. The couple had lots of marital issues and locals said that Hafiz frequently beat his wife, who had left him several times but always returned for the sake of her three children. “She recently left him to live with her sister but he had been threatening her and boasting that she would never see her children when he was done with her,” said neighbour Rehana.

Last week, Farkhanda moved the local court in Bahawalpur to dissolve her marriage and cited spousal abuse as the main reason for her decision. Following the notice, Hafiz threw acid on his wife and she lost an eye and half of her face was severely burnt.

Farkhanda was shifted to the DHQ hospital in critical condition and police officials have arrested Hafiz as he tried to escape.

According to injured Farkhanda, her husband used to gamble and was also a drug addict. He sold all her gold ornaments and seven months ago Farkhanda left the house and started living with her sister Ghazala in Bahawalpur. “I moved the court for dissolution of the marriage because he was often violent and beat me several times,” she told police. On Friday, Hafiz jumped the boundary wall of Farkhanda’s sister’s house and threw acid on his wife while she was asleep. Farkhanda, who is the mother of three children, had sent the children to live with a relative for the summer because she feared that her husband might harm them. “She is still refusing to tell us where the children are because she is scared that her husband’s relatives will harm them,” Baghdad SHO Rehman Qadir said.

“The woman is in a terrible condition. It is hard to even look at her because of how badly her face has been mutilated,” he said.

According to doctors at the DHQ, the right half of Farkhanda’s face has been burnt and she has also sustained third degree burns to her body.

“Half of her face has literally been seared off and we have covered her with a bandage but it will take years to heal. We don’t know how her wounds will heal because she needs major reconstructive surgery and we do not have the resources to do that here” said Dr Shams.

Hafiz told police officials that he had thrown acid on his wife because she was having an affair. “She deserved what happened for trying to divorce me after she was the one who had illicit relations. She has falsely accused me of abusing her,” he told police. Baghdad police station have registered a case under the Terrorism Act and arrested the accused.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 7^th, 2011.