‘Kari’ backtracks in court, denies beating

LARKANA: Twenty-seven year old Hafizan Bhutto, who was publicly beaten by her husband and brother, has completely denied the incident took place.

Changing her statement, she filed a petition on Saturday in the court of the fifth additional sessions judge in which she denied that she was ever beaten by her husband Hajan Bhutto and brother Zahid Bhutto. “The police registered an FIR against them on their own,” she said. She also refused to recognise her lawyer.

Hafizan’s husband and brother were also present in court. The judge has asked them to appear on July 19.

On Monday, she was beaten in public and declared a ‘kari’ by Hajan and her brother. They were forcibly taking her away in a car when she screamed for help and attracted the attention of other residents.

They rushed to the car and managed to free her with the help of the police.

The police arrested Hajan and Zahid and they were sent on a three-day remand into police custody.

During Tuesday’s hearing, Hafizan told the judge that she was afraid her husband and brother would try to kill her again and she wanted to stay with her brother-in-law, Ghulam Shabbir Bhutto. She also pleaded with the court to grant her a divorce from her husband.

Meanwhile, her husband had insisted that he is innocent and claimed that she was suffering from fits and was having one such attack on Monday when the incident took place. His wife was not ‘kari’ and he never wanted to kill her, said Hajan, adding that if he had intended to kill her he would have done it inside their house.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2010.