Rejection leads to kidnap, assault, attempted murder

MULTAN: An 18-year-old newly-wed was snatched from her new home late Thursday night in the remote village of Thatta Ghulwan in Shujabad, by four armed, masked men.

The family were tied up and the intruders escaped with the girl, not bothering with valuables or other household items.

The following afternoon, her blood-soaked, maimed body was dumped outside her sister-in-law’s house. A large crowd gathered after the ‘body’ was spotted. Just as the family had started mourning her death -  she stunned everyone with a twitch of her head.

She was rushed to the Tehsil Headquarters (THQ) Hospital where doctors were able to revive her. Tabinda*, who had axe wounds to her forehead, legs, back and arms among other scars and bruises regained consciousness the same day.The recuperating survivor managed also to dole out a statement to the police, positively identifying the assailants, their motives and details of her ordeal.

Tabinda revealed that she was kidnapped by Allah Yar Ghallu, the son of an influential local landlord, with the help of his friends Hafeez Ghallu, Allah Baksh Ghallu and a man she did not recognise. She recalled how the men took her to a field during the night and repeatedly sexually assaulted her between spells of beatings.

Immediately after daybreak, she said that they clubbed her with an axe until she passed out.

Her medical examination has confirmed that she was assaulted by four men and hit multiple times by a sharp, pointed object.

Motivation

Tabinda’s husband Akbar* revealed that Allah Yar is the son of a well-known landlord in their community. He stated that the family had first met Allah Yar, when his father approached Akbar’s family expressing his wish to marry Allah Yar to his sister.

He stated that his father refused the proposal since the landlord’s son had a very bad reputation.

The Ghallus then approached Tabinda’s father Allah Ditta, seeking her hand in marriage. Advised against accepting the offer, Allah Datta too turned down the request.

Soon afterwards, Tabinda was engaged to Akbar and his sister to Tabinda’s uncle. Six months ago, the two new couples, tied the knot in a small, joint ceremony. Akbar said that he had no idea that Allah Yar had taken such deep offence and would exact such brutal ‘revenge’.

He believed that his wife was dumped outside his sister’s house to intimidate both families and deter prosecution. Akbar has registered his complaint at the City police station. The police have failed so far to arrest any of the accused.



*The names have been changed to  protect the girl’s privacy

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10^th, 2010.