Five detectives searching for a thief were abducted in Tank district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa along with two sniffer dogs.
According to the police, the abduction occurred in Malazai, a suburb of Tank. The kidnappers have demanded a ransom of 100 million rupees for the release of the hostages.
DPO Tank Abdul Salam Khalid told Geo News that a person named Noor Ali had hired a private company from Kohat to investigate a petty robbery incident at a house.
The team, along with two Khoji dogs, were abducted by unknown armed men when they were on their way to Kohat after the investigation.
Among the hostages, Shoaib Khan, Rafiullah, and Rais Khan belong to Kirk, while Shahid Aziz Bhatti and Majid Ali Okara are residents of Punjab.
According to the DPO, the investigation team was called without informing the police, who have now started investigating the incident.
The National Commission for Human Rights has issued a report revealing that a large number of women in Pakistan are victims of domestic violence.
According to the evaluation, 47 per cent of Pakistani women face domestic violence, and this cycle continues even after marriage, which often ends in divorce.
The autopsy report of Sania Zehra from Multan has been released, confirming that she was not pregnant while the cause of her death as asphyxia by hanging.
Ligature marks on her neck are consistent with hanging, says the report.
The report clearly stated that the hyoid bone was intact, and there were no visible signs of injury or violence.
However, samples from the stomach, liver, and spleen have been sent to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency for further analysis.
Zehra’s body has been exhumed by the police. She was allegedly murdered by her husband in Multan. Sania’s father Syed Asad Abbas Shah claimed in FIR that her sudden death was not a suicide but an alleged murder. He stated that his daughter’s in-laws were disguising the alleged murder as a suicide, contrary to the crime scene.
The police’s investigation also revealed that the woman married at the age of 14 and had a history of suicidal tendencies in her family, with her brother having died by suicide six months prior.
Sania’s father, Syed Abbas Shah, told BBC in an interview that his daughter’s death is painted as a suicide while it was a murder.
“The police should investigate and tell me whether my daughter was killed or she committed suicide and if she did commit suicide, then they should investigate why she did it.”
He added further that the police should investigate what the in-laws did that forced his daughter to commit suicide. “I want a fair and transparent investigation into my daughter’s death,” Asad stressed.
He told BBC that the incident took place on June 9, but the police did not registered an FIR rightaway. After much protest FIR got registered on June 11.
The father claimed that so far the accused, his family and no employee of the house has been arrested.
On the other hand, DIG Multan Sadiq Ali Dogar claims that the police had detained people from the in-laws on the first day but they were released on the request of Sania’s father.
He (the father) said that we do not want to file an FIR, they (in-laws) should be released,” he shared father’s statement. “As the matter went to social media, the in-laws ran away in fear, but we are trying hard to catch them.
Background
A 20-year-old pregnant mother of two, identified as Sania Zehra, was found dead on Monday (July 8) in Multan. The news took over social media, getting widely shared.
She was allegedly murdered by her husband.
The victim’s father told the police that he received a call on Tuesday at 9 am from a police official, who asked him to head to his daughter’s residence. There they found the woman hanging from a ceiling fan.
The FIR said that when the forensic specialist arrived at the scene and tried to untie the noose around the victim’s neck, it opened up quite easily. However, a doctor present at the scene said that the victim had died at 6 pm that day.
The complainant quoted the doctor as saying that the victim’s jaw was found broken, adding that marks of rope were also found on the victim’s feet. Signs of assault were also visible on the victim’s ribs and elbows while both her eyes were bruised.
The FIR declared that the victim was five to six months pregnant at the time of her death.
The police said that the suspect, the husband, had fled the scene and did not even inform the family of their daughter’s death.
The complainant told the police that his daughter’s husband had lied to the victim’s family at the time of their marriage and was already married to another woman.
The family filed a case in the family court against the suspect; however, the case was eventually retracted.
Husband pressurizing for money
The husband kept on threatening his wife and pressured her to sell the house she owned.
It also said that the suspect had visited the complainant before the victim’s death and had threatened that he would kill her if the property in her name was not transferred to him.
The father said that his daughter was murdered by her husband, who was after her property and the matter was being “portrayed as a suicide”.
Social media speculations
The information above was what Tasur Subhani and Imran Gabol reported for Dawn. However, social media has few other speculations with a page dedicated to seek justice for the victim who is identified as Syeda Sania Zehra. She, according to that page, belongs to an influential background, her father being a political figure from Multan, Syed Asad Abbas Shah.
The husband, Syed Ali Raza and mother-in-law Azra Jeewan Shah are said to be complicit in the murder. The mother-in-law allegedly told the victim’s family wheb they came to pick daughter’s body, “Don’t make noise and take your daughter home.”
An investigation has started upon the instructions of Chief Minister Punjab Maryam Nawaz, Provincial Minister for Social Welfare and Finance Punjab Sohail Shaukat Butt and Chairperson Women Protection Authority MPA Hina Parvez Butt met the victim’s family in Multan.
Butt confirmed that a complete investigation into the matter would be carried out.
Following the CCTV footage of three girls beating up a salesman in a shop in Lahore and the widespread criticism over the police’s handling of the alleged harassment case, local police are now actively finding out what happened.
In the viral video, the girls appear to have initiated the assault, with the boy at the receiving end of their blows. However, it was reported that the salesman was arrested on allegations of harassment posed by the girls. This instigated a debate on social media where netizens demanded the arrest of the girls for allegedly using the “woman card.”
DIG Lahore Operations Faisal Kamran, while talking to Dawn, said the CCTV footage was presented in court by the boys in their defence, led to the case being dismissed.
The DIG also stated that the police approached the young man to file a complaint against the girls, if they wish to proceed with legal action.
The Current talked to the Superintendent of Police (SP), Dr. Ayaz, who stated that women’s harassment laws require an immediate response from the police. He said the police responded to the complaint filed by the girls, took the boys to the police station, and booked them instantly. “It was the honourable court’s decision to decide the case,” he stressed. “The police is committed to performing their duties, and as per law, we have a time of 14 days according to which we are conducting our investigation,” he added.
SP Ayaz confirmed that the medical checkup of both the girl and boy has been done, and all aspects of the case are being investigated, including the harassment and assault allegations. This particular case is registered under Article 509-1 and will proceed under charges of ‘insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment’, Ayaz informed.
Addressing social media speculation about the girl being the daughter of a lawyer, DIG Kamran clarified that the girl’s mother informed the police that her husband had passed away.
THE GIRLS
One of the three girls, on condition of anonymity, talked to The Current and explained how she, along with her friends, went to the shop to have coffee and do some shopping. According to her, she was chitchatting with her friends when the salesman started passing lewd comments about them, asking the girls if they were on “night duty,” implying that they were prostitutes. The comments enraged her friend who told him to behave and as the situation escalated, they first got into a verbal brawl with two boys which eventually took the form of a physical fight. She claimed that they hurled curses at them and pulled the hair of the boy. He also struck a girl, causing her nose to bleed and tore her shirt.
She said that they stayed there until they called the police and got the FIR registered, an official copy of which is present with The Current. The man who made their video was asked not to do so because of their vulnerable condition, but he did not comply.
A digital copy of FIR shared by the girl.
The girl said that at the police station, the boy apologised, and a “raazi nama” was signed. She stressed that in police custody, the shopkeeper said that the CCTV footage was not available as it was deleted. However, it surfaced on social media, two days after the incident, in what she described as an effort to defame them. In a traumatised tone, she said that they are under extreme pressure and because of her public profile on Instagram, she has gotten rape and death threats after the video went viral.
The screenshots shared by the girl depict the threatening and abusive language used by men sliding into her DMs.
More than once, she said that the viral video does not present the whole version and lacks the actual audio. She stressed that if the audio was released, it would support her version of the story. “I don’t understand, how can people think that it could have happened without a reason. We are not mad that we just got up and started beating someone. There was a reason, and in all honesty, we are not ashamed of it,” she shared.
She made it a point to mention that she does not belong to an elite background but from an upper-middle-class household, and the criticism that the girls weren’t ‘dressed properly’ is sexist and violates their right to freedom of choice.
THE GUY’S VERSION
The viral footage showed only one boy being assaulted by the girls in the presence of the shop owner and other visitors who eventually intervened. Yasir Shami from Urdu Point was seen talking to the boy, Yousuf, who was beaten up by the girl. Yousuf vehemently denied any allegations of harassment. “I was laughing at something my colleague said, and the ladies misheard and started coming inside the counter area. I told them they couldn’t do that but she still made her way inside and started beating me,” he said. “I did defend myself as much as I could, but not much as she was a woman,” he claimed. He also denied any claim of cursing the girls.
Journalist Ahmed Faraz, while talking on the show Geo Pakistan, explained that only one FIR is registered in any case, and all elements are explored and investigated under that.
Television host Ayesha Jahanzeb has accused her husband, Haris Ali, of assaulting her in what is fast becoming a high-profile case of domestic violence.
Police arrested Haris, after which he was released by the police in Lahore’s Cantt court.
The judicial magistrate granted a two-day physical remand, handing Haris over to the police for further investigation.
Ayesha Jahanzeb had registered a case against her husband in which she accused him of perpetrating domestic violence upon her. She stated in the FIR that since January this year, her husband, whom she married in 2015, had started beating her and their children, but she did not raise noise for the sake of maintaining the sanctity of their relationship. Haris is always suspicious and has beaten her many times since the first incident, she said in her statement.
He also beat her on the June 24 last month, “dragging her by her hair and beating her with kicks and punches’, causing injuries, according to the FIR.
UrduNews revealed details of the FIR in their report: Ayesha’s husband beat her once again on July 8 in the afternoon, dragged her to the gate took out pistols and pointed them at her shoulders.
She has also submitted photographs to the police station which show her with lacerations and bruises on the face.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has asked for a report from the Inspector General Punjab Police, Dr Usman Anwer. She also issued a directive to provide best medical facilities to Ayesha.
A woman was beaten to death by her in-laws when she took a long time to cook food in Kot Sultan village Korywali, Layyah, reports Dawn.
Parveen Bibi’s husband, Muhammad Yusuf, along with his brothers Muhammad Ejaz, Muhammad Younis, and Nadar, allegedly assaulted her for the delay in the preparation of food.
Local police in Kot Sultan have registered a murder case on the complaint of Abdul Majeed, the uncle of the victim, Parveen.
FIR states that the suspects severely beat Parveen Bibi with sticks until she fell unconscious. Seeing the gravity of injuries, she was shifted from the tehsil headquarters hospital to the district headquarters hospital and then to Nishtar Hospital in Multan, where she succumbed to her injuries.
Complainant Majeed said an autopsy was conducted after her death.
Layyah District Police Officer Asadur Rehman claimed that the suspects would be arrested, saying violence against women will not be tolerated and a special team has been formed to investigate the case.
Unsatisfied with his academic low score, a matriculation student in Lahore committed suicide after the result was released yesterday (July 9).
15-year-old Arsalan, a resident of the border village of Padana in Lahore, took his own life by jumping from the water tank. He suffered multiple head and neck injuries, which proved fatal, reported Dawn.
The police said that the boy was disappointed by his low score. The forensic team and the police collected the evidence.
Results of matriculation examinations have been announced by 9 education boards of Punjab, including the Lahore Board.
Looting incidents continue in Karachi،, withh car and motorcycle snatching and theft.
According to details, the Citizens Police Liaison Committee (CPLC) released the June statistics related to increasing crimes in Karachi, stating that most reported incidents were car and motorcycle snatching and theft.
Due to the poor performance of the Anti-Vehicle Lifting System (AVLC), criminals target vehicles and motorcycles in Karachi.
The CPLC report said that 24 vehicles were seized and 135 were stolen from different areas of Karachi in 30 hedays, in which only 80 cars could be recovered.
A total of 564 motorcycles were taken from citizens at gunpoint and 2792 motorcycles were stolen in Karachi, out of which the police could recover only 196 motorcycles.
Apart from this, 1433 mobile phones of citizens were taken away by the accused at gunpoint in different areas, and the police could recover only 18 mobile phones.
In June, 6 cases of extortion were registered within Karachi, and 40 people were killed in different areas of Karachi in the same month.
A video of a group of girls beating up a shopkeeper in Lahore has gone viral on the internet. Some netizens claimed that the girls were daughters of an influential lawyer, adding that they had beaten the boy because they thought he was harassing them.
In the video, the girls appear to have initiated the assault, with the boy at the receiving end of their blows and slaps.
CCTV footage shows girls standing at the cash counter of a tuck shop holding coffee mugs while a young salesman is sitting at the counter with the cashier. The girls start talking angrily and then barge inside the counter.
One girl, clad in a black T-shirt, grabs the salesman’s neck and slaps him; the other girls grab the boy’s hair and hit him. An elderly customer forbade the girls, but reportedly, they hurled abuses at him and went to the police station.
The incident happened on Saturday night in the Garden Town area of Lahore at a petrol pump tuck shop. The boy was then arrested on charges of harassment, as per Geo, on the complaint of one of the girls, Iman Zahra.
She stated in the complaint that both the salesmen made obscene gestures, and when she complained, salesman Yusuf, along with the cashier, abused them. Social media lambasted the girls for their inhumane behaviour.
Ihtisham ul Haq called the whole act of violence “disgusting”.
Activist Shama Junejo pointed out that the girls come from an influential background. Lahore Police’s Twitter handle replied to her, “On July 7, the police registered an FIR on a harassment complaint by the girls. Today, based on video evidence, these boys were acquitted. However, if any application is received from these boys, action will be taken according to merit.”
To this, Shama replied, “When a crime is shown in a video, is it necessary to take action only on the complaint of the victim? Can’t it happen?”
Netizens criticised Lahore police for this response as Ashir Azeem Gill, an ex-civil servant, actor and activist sarcastically wrote, “Well Done, Lahore police. Tomorrow you’ll say, how can we catch the killer, the deceased hasn’t filed a case.”
