Bad marriage: 25-year-old beaten senseless by husband over Rs0.5 million dowry

She went home after a year of abuse but was sent back.

HARIPUR: A 25-year-old woman has filed a complaint against her husband for beating her mercilessly for refusing to hand over Rs500,000 of her dowry and a portion of the house he promised her at the time of the nikkah.

The City police lodged the complaint, but not an FIR yet, when Shazia R. came to them on Monday.

Shazia, a Hafiza-e-Quran, was married to Safeer A., a trader, about one-and-a-half years ago. They lived in Mohallah Masoomabad, Sikandar Pur but the marriage has been a violent one. The City police quoted Shazia as saying that Safeer was short-tempered and focused on money and started mistreating her soon after they got married. He would beat her over small issues and was abusive.

Six months ago he beat her so badly that she went back to her parents’ home. However, a jirga was held and social pressure was exerted on her parents to send her back to Safeer’s house.

He returned to his old ways and the beatings got worse. He repeatedly pressured her to surrender Rs500,000 of her part of the dowry and a portion of the house that he agreed to give her at the time of nikkah.

On Sunday evening they had a fight over the same issue and he beat her when she refused to give in. He grabbed her and banged her head against the wall repeatedly, injuring her critically and left the house after locking her inside unconscious. When she came to, she called her parents who informed the police. She was rescued and referred to the Women and Children Hospital for a medical examination. The x-ray report of her head injury has yet to be finalized by the radiologist but a doctor at the emergency confirmed the injuries to her body and head.

The City police will be able to register the FIR when the medical report is finalized. Safeer, meanwhile, is at large.

Unlike other provinces, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has yet to pass its bill on domestic violence. In February it was reported that the legislation is sitting with a house committee for further deliberation.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 8^th, 2014.