A woman filed a first-information report (FIR) against her husband in the Green Town police station on Monday. It is reportedly the first FIR filed under Punjab’s Protection of Women against Violence Act which was signed into law on Monday.
FIR 203/16 had been filed under sections 354 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Police Ashiq of the Green Town police station confirmed.
The woman, in footage shown on a news channel, alleged her husband, a drug-addict, tortures her and forces her to work.
She claimed she visited the police station six or seven times earlier but was unable to register an FIR then, and said that if police did not help in this matter, she would poison her son and ingest poison herself as well.
ASI Ashiq said no marks of physical torture were present on the woman and there was no medical report to confirm her claim. He said her husband had been arrested and brought to the police station, and the police were helping the couple reconcile.
The two got married six years ago, he said, adding that both had been divorced once previously. They have one child together, the ASI said. The husband works in a factory and the couple often fight on matters related to household finances, he said.
Punjab Governor Rafiq Rajwana signed the Protection of Women against Violence Bill on Monday to make it a formal law. The bill had been unanimously passed by the Punjab Assembly on February 24.
The law prohibits torture of wives and bans expulsion of the woman from home in case of a clash with her husband and instead the husband could be banished from home for two days. Violators will be awarded jail terms and fine, besides installation of trackers on violent husbands on court orders.