Woman tortured by in-laws

A woman suffered severe injuries after her in-laws brutally tortured her in the open during rain in the Mohalla Raja Sultan area of Rawalpindi on Saturday.

The Bani Station House Officer (SHO) initially hesitated to arrest the influential accused, but after receiving standing instructions from the Rawalpindi City Police Officer, proceeded with the arrest.

Basahair Zohaib, the wife of Zohaib Adil, narrated her harrowing experience of domestic violence and informed the police that it had become a routine occurrence at the hands of her in-laws after hardly two months of marriage. Even minor incidents would trigger violent outbursts, with her father-in-law also participating in the abuse.

Bashair of Phagwari was married to Zohaib one and half years ago and the couple has a three-month-old son Muhammad Musa.

On the day of the incident, her husband, mother-in-law Asia Raza, and sister-in-law Nida Usman collectively unleashed violence upon Bashair, forcing her to flee the house amidst heavy rain, clad only in a dupatta. They pursued her, snatched the child, continued the assault in the crowded street, tore her clothes and left her in a precarious state before abandoning her outside her parental house.

The incident garnered attention when a video of the violence circulated on social media, prompting CPO Syed Khalid Hamdani to take swift action. He immediately sought a report from the Rawal SP and issued orders for the prompt arrest of the accused. Police later arrested the woman's husband.

The city police chief, in a statement, made it clear that violence, abuse, and exploitation of women would not be tolerated under any circumstances.