Vile threats: ‘Abused’ woman recovered from in-laws

Court directed the police to produce her before the bench.

RAWALPINDI: A woman whose husband had threatened to disfigure her with acid was recovered by Rawalpindi police from her in-laws’ house on a district court’s directive on Saturday.

Riffat Shuja informed the court that her husband Furqan Ashraf and his father Ashraf Kamal had made her a virtual prisoner and threatened to disfigure her with acid. Shuja said she did not want to live with her husband anymore.

Earlier in the day, Shuja’s elder sister Rabia Ali petitioned Additional District and Sessions Judge Kaleem Khan for Shuja’s recovery, stating she feared for her life.

The court appointed a bailiff and directed Westridge police to help recover the married woman from her in-laws. Shuja was produced before the court within a few hours after she was recovered from her in-laws’ house at Misrial Road.

While filing a habeas corpus petition in the court for her sister’s recovery, Ali said that Shuja had been threatened with dire consequences by her husband were she to leave home. Shuja married Furqan last June and their mother and other family members had tried to meet her several times, but they were never allowed by her in-laws.

Ali said that a few days ago she succeeded in contacting her sister on the telephone. Riffat told me she had been confined to the house by her in-laws who were subjecting her to torture, said Ali.

Police said no resistance was offered by the in-laws when they asked Shuja to accompany them.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 10^th, 2012.