Domestic violence: Police lodge FIR against woman’s in-laws

Brother claims her husband and mother-in-law were torturing her.

SUKKUR: The police registered an FIR against a woman's husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law on Sunday for torturing her.

According to sources, Waseem, a resident of Takkar Mohallah went to the B-section police and alleged that his sister's in-law were torturing her.

He claimed that his sister Reema had been kept in chains by Nadeem Ahmed Yousafzai, his mother Arifa and his sister Sumaira for a week.

The police acted on the complaint and went to see Reema at her parents house. Her legs were bound by chains when the police recorded her statement.

While talking to the media, Reema said that she had been married to Yousufzai for three years and had a one-year-old daughter with him. She claimed that Nadeem was already married and had four children with his first wife who had left him. Reema alleged that her husband and in-laws used to ask her for money to run their business and tortured her when she refused.

Around a week ago, she said, her husband demanded money and when she refused, he cut her hair and bound her hands and feet with chains. On Sunday, when the family left to attend a neighbourhood event, she ran away to her parent's house.

Reema added that she did not want to go back to her husband's house and wanted to take some action against her in-laws.

While the police registered the FIR against Yousafzai, his mother and sister, the arrests have yet to be made. ASI Muhamamd Ramzan confirmed that an FIR had been lodged.

He said that they had raided Yousafzai's residence but it was locked and it seemed that the family had moved. The ASI added that they had recorded Reema and her mother's statement and this was just one side of the story. The other, he said, will become clear when they talk to Yousafzai and his family.

The neighbours claimed that Nadeem and his family did have fights with Reema but they had not heard anything about her being bound by chains.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 29^th, 2014.