Eloping youths bear brunt of social mores

Family takes girl back home, deals with boy the hard way

CHAK JHUMRA:

A youth was allegedly tortured by a girl’s relatives for eloping with her.

After a girl eloped with a boy, her family members grabbed him and allegedly tortured him. They also allegedly shaved his hair and eyebrows.

In the case filed by Sanaullah, a resident of 229RB, it was stated that Mehk, a resident of 214RB Awami Town, ran away from home with his son, Basit Aziz and had gone to Satiana. When he found out, he and Mehk's parents went and took her back home.

Due to the elopement, the father of the accused girl, Ramzan, her brother, Shehzad and others called Basit to Gulshan-e-Iqbal Colony 215 RB. They then allegedly tortured him, shaving his head, eye brows and the left side of his mustache.

Police registered a case against the accused under the provisions of 337 V-148-149 PPC and arrested two of them.

Cases of this nature, where violence is meted out to salvage ‘lost honour’, are not uncommon in the province. In September 2016, this was taken a step further when a woman and her reported boyfriend were tortured and hanged in Punjab by her father, brother and husband.

Khalida Bibi, a mother-of-three, had engaged in an affair with the other victim. When they were discovered, both were beaten and hanged in the family’s courtyard. According to police, the accused confessed to the crime and cited infidelity as the motive.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 29^th, 2022.