Violence: Woman mutilated by husband

He had accused her of having an affair with his brother.

BAHAWALPUR:

A woman’s nose and lips were cut on Tuesday allegedly by her husband who accused her of having an affair with his brother. She was taken to a hospital, where doctors treating her said that she would require a reconstruction surgery.

A case has been registered on the complaint of the woman’s uncle Muhammad Hussain.

Airport police said they were looking for the suspect. They said they had recorded the woman’s statement.

Hussain, a resident of Chak 36-NP, told police that his niece Hakeema Mai had married Mehar Ali a few years ago. They had four children. He said Ali had accused her of having an affair with his younger brother Fida Hussain.

Mai said on Tuesday when Ali returned from work, she and Fida Hussain were sitting in the verandah. She said his friends Shah Mir and Nizam Din were also with him. She said he abused Fida Hussain and accused them of having an illicit relationship. She said when he leapt to assault Fida Hussain, she tried to stop him.

She said he kicked her and went to the kitchen. She said when Mir and Din, too, attacked Fida Hussain, she told him to leave. A few moments later, she said, Ali reappeared from the kitchen with a butcher’s cleaver in his hand. She said he then cut her nose and lips with help from his friends.

“He kept saying that he would do the same to his brother,” she said.

She said some neighbours heard her shout and came over. Ali and his friends fled. She was taken to the tehsil headquarters hospital, from where she was sent to the district headquarters hospital in Rahim Yar Khan.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2013.