- Mother of five humiliated, stripped naked, tortured and dragged through streets for protecting her son from influential locals
- Locals say they can vouch for the family’s honesty
A mother of five children was humiliated, stripped naked, tortured and dragged through the streets of her village for trying to protect her son from the wrath of influential locals, Pakistan Today has learnt.
Parveen, a widow, works in a factory to support her children and lives in Kachwana Shahhanswar, close to Kahna. “The house we live in was given to us by a man named Syed Maratib Ali. My son, Yasir, works in a stone shop and he was wrongly accused of stealing gold from Maratib’s house and of being involved with his worker’s daughter,” she said.
According to details, Maratib Ali had tortured her son on Monday to such an extent that he was admitted to Lahore General Hospital where his condition is said to be critical.
“They took my son to their house to beat him up and when I went to rescue him, three men named Papu, Babar and Jana began hitting me with rifle butts and sticks. The entire village saw what was happening,” Parveen said, adding, “They held me from my hair and dragged me through the streets while holding a gun to my son’s forehead,” she said.
Parveen further revealed that she and her children had a dispute with Maratib Ali a few years ago and his cronies were using this opportunity to take revenge from her.
“The police managed to free us from their captivity and have also arrested Papu. The others are yet to be caught,” she added.
“Mushtaq Papu, Babar and their friends have made our lives miserable,” said a local asking not to be named. “All of them are rich and the authorities support them. They tortured Parveen and her son for no reason and I can vouch for the family. I don’t think that Parveen’s son is a thief. They are poor and don’t have influential friends. That is their only problem,” he added.
According to a police official, Yasir had an affair with Mushtaq’s daughter and Mushtaq had taken him to his house to deter him. “Mushtaq and his friends tortured Yasir and when his mother tried to save him, they tortured her too,” the official said, adding that those named in the FIR were on an interim bail.
“The culprits have been arrested and action will be taken once the investigation completes,” DSP Tariq Zafar said.