Pakistani woman beaten in public by a feudal lord on charges of illicit relations
The victim was accused of having extramarital relationship with her neighbour
Dubai: In another bizarre incident, a woman was beaten in public by a feudal landlord in Faisalabad on charges of having illicit relations.
A video of the beating incident also went viral early this week. Aqib (alias Kali), a feudal landlord in a village in the outskirts of Faisalabad in Punjab province of Pakistan, had reportedly accused the woman of adultery and having illicit relationship with her neighbour. He also ordered that she should be beaten with a stick as punishment, Geo TV reported.
The victim’s father-in-law, Saleem, explained that the feudal lord had accused his daughter-in-law of having an extramarital relationship with his neighbour.
Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has taken notice of the incident of violence against women and sought a report over the incident from the regional police officer.
Later, police arrested at least two suspects, including Aqib (alias Kali), the feudal landlord.
Violence against women
Pakistan is the sixth most dangerous country in the world for women, with cases of sexual crimes and domestic violence recording a rapid rise.
According to statistics collected by White Ribbon Pakistan, an NGO working for women’s rights, 4,734 women faced sexual violence between 2004 and 2016. Over 15,000 cases of honour crimes were registered. There were more than 1,800 cases of domestic violence and over 5,500 kidnappings of women during this period.
According to media reports, more than 51,241 cases of violence against women were reported between January 2011 and June 2017. Conviction rates, meanwhile, remain low, with the accused in just 2.5 per cent of all reported cases ending up being convicted by courts.
The chief justice of Pakistan has recently announced that 1,000 courts would be set up to deal with the cases of violence against women.
Pakistani women’s rights activists like Mukhtaran Mai who herself is rape victim earlier told media that it’s a systemic problem.
“Women police stations and other facilities are set up in cities while the majority of the violence cases take place in villages,” Mai said. “In rural areas, feudal landlords call the shots; the administration and police are subservient to these feudal chieftains who view women as commodities. So how can justice be delivered in such cases?”