Faisalabad’s Chak Jhumra police on Monday arrested a so-called faith healer who allegedly raped the 16-year-old daughter of his disciple. The girl was reportedly working at his residence.
A city police spokesperson said a police team arrested the suspect in a raid on a place in Faisalabad where he was hiding.
Police say that the girl, the daughter of a follower of the suspect, was left at his house to work as a house-help.
The victim told the police that the suspect had been raping her for the last four months.
Her medical examination also revealed that she was pregnant.
Dawn reports that Punjab Women Protection Authority (PWPA) chairperson Hina Pervez Butt visited the survivor on behalf of the chief minister.
Update: Local police on Saturday booked a reporter and a cameraman of a private TV channel for “illegally” recording and broadcasting on social media the interviews of the three in-custody suspects in the Maria murder case, reports Dawn.
In the First Information Report (FIR) complainant Station House Officer (SHO) Muhammad Hasan stated that the private TV channel’s reporter Rana Khalid Mahmood and cameraman Ali Ahmad violated the law by recording video statements of the suspects in custody, without permission of the concerned authorities.
However, no arrest has so far been made in the case.
Meanwhile, journalists’ organizations have expressed concern over the registration of the case under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) declaring it beyond the Punjab police’s domain to book any media person. They also urged Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz to take notice of the alleged violation of law by the Punjab police and warned the government that journalists would be forced to stage protests if the “illegal” FIR against the two media persons was not dismissed.
The TV reporter, Rana Khalid, claims his lawyers had filed his pre-arrest bail plea before the court who refused to hear it with the remarks that the cases under PECA should be heard by a Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) court.
However, in the case, BOL News is claiming that the brother who filmed the murder, Shehbaz, and his wife Sumera have been convicted by the court for hiding the murder of 22-year-old Maria under section 201 of the penal code of Pakistan. They have been sent to jail on judicial remand.
Previously, in the Toba Tek Singh’s Maria murder case, the brother, Faisal, who was seen murdering the sister in the video, and the complicit father, Abdul Sattar, lying on a bed beside him have alleged that the brother who filmed it raped her. The two were talking to the media when they said that.
The matter of the brutal murder and it being filmed was discussed by Zarar Khuro, Wusatullah Khan, and Shahzaib Jillani in their show Zara Hat Kay. The reporter Sultan Sidhu explained that a four day remand has been taken again and shocking revelations have been made in the case as the alleged complicit duo of father and son have told the police that Shehbaz the brother who filmed it was raping Maria and not them.
https://youtu.be/6jh5M4ybXd4?si=OEGBT7zHEYu_F4CK
Previously, lawyer Kamran Zafar, Maria’s elder brother Shehbaz’s lawyer announced the withdrawal of his advocacy in the case.
The lawyer announced the withdrawal of his letter of attorney in Toba Tek Singh, citing he cannot advocate for “beasts”
Maria,22, murder case was heard in a local court of Toba Tek Singh. The main accused Faisal and his father were presented before the court. During the hearing, the police requested 14 days remand of the accused in the case, however, the magistrate approved a four-day remand.
Lawyer said Shahbaz and his wife were misleading, and he could not represent such “beasts” before the court, reports ARY News.
Meanwhile, the family of Maria alleged that lawyer after taking Rs 400,000 decided to help the police.
Moreover, the elder sister of deceased Maria Bibi revealed shocking details and demanded justice from the authorities in an interview with ARY News.
The statement of the deceased Maria Bibi’s elder sister, Kosar, has come to light in which she stated that her brother informed her at 1 am that Maria’s condition had deteriorated but when she arrived home she was already dead. “She was subjected to severe torture and brutally murdered as she saw blood flowing from Maria’s nose, said Kosar.
Background
The horrific video of the murder of a 22-year-old girl in Toba Tek Singh has gone viral in which one of her brothers strangled her while being encouraged by their father while the other brother was filming. The father and the brother who killed the girl have been accused of allegedly raping the victim.
The video of the gruesome murder of Maria in 477 JB, a suburb of Toba Tek Singh, has invoked horrified reactions on the internet. The video, filmed inside what looks like a room in a rural home, shows Faisal strangling Maria while her father Abdul Sattar is lying down, seemingly not bothered by his daughter’s death. The other brother’s wife Sumaira can also be seen standing in the room in the video. Meanwhile the brother who was secretly filming the incident, Shehbaz, filmed the clip on the pretext of talking to a friend on the phone.
A two-day physical remand of the victim’s brother Faisal and father Abdul Sattar, arrested on the charge of murder, has been obtained, while the other brother of the victim, Shehbaz, who made the video, and the sister-in-law Sumaira, who is seen in the video, have also been made part of the investigation, as per the police.
The neck bone of the girl is broken, reveals the preliminary investigation.
Relatives of the victim and the neighbours say that the three of them- father and sons- killed the girl and tried to hide the crime by burying her and declaring her death to be natural.
The father and son strangled Maria together between the nights of March 17 and 18, according to the police report. The brother who made the video, Shehbaz, has accused his brother and father of killing the victim after she complained of rape.
https://youtu.be/a3M40PEV_XQ?si=yFCPQ2rgsv3KU2Mj
In the video, Maria’s brother Shehbaz could be heard suggesting to his father and younger brother Faisal to free the sister.
Reporter Geo News Sajid Majeed explained that Shehbaz instantly informed the police but no action was taken. Consequently, his lawyer shared the video in various groups and made it viral on social media. This prompted the police to arrest the two murderers.
Shahbaz said that when he tried to rescue Maria, his brother and father threatened to kill his daughters too.
“I cannot resist for the sake of my daughters but I recorded the murder from my mobile pretending to be speaking on a phone call,” he added while talking to Samaa News.
https://youtu.be/USGwB0im1uA?si=xNYEUw3b0VjNN5Qj
Shahbaz asked the police to register the case on his complaint, not on behalf of the state, reports 24 News.
Maria’s sister-in-law has said that when they entered the room, Maria’s hands and feet were tied.
DPO Ibadat Nisar Toba Tek Singh has said that DNA tests of the three fathers and sons are being conducted while the samples have been sent for forensics after the exhumation and post-mortem of the victim.
Update: In a sad turn of events the wife of the man who allegedly poisoned the tea has expired along with another child. Six of the family have died and the post-mortem report is awaited.
https://youtu.be/fd3f5_24r68?si=EJNj9q58ZckJbHwP
Background
A domestic fight took a lethal turn in Chak 520 GB of Toba Tek Singh when a man identified as Asghar poisoned tea following an altercation with his wife and then fled the house, reports The Express Tribune.
His wife Nadia, along with her husband’s daughter from a previous marriage, Iqra, 12, their children Saniha, 17, Madiha, 18, and Ali Hassan, 7 fell critically ill after consuming the tea.
Nadia informed Rescue 1122 about the altercation and poisoning. Rescue teams provided initial medical aid to all affected family members. They were then transferred to DHQ Hospital Toba Tek Singh for further treatment. However, the four children Iqra, Saniha, Mediha, and Ali Hassan lost their lives, succumbing to the effects of the poison, while the condition of the remaining family members remains critical.
Due to the severity of their condition, Nadia and one of her daughters have been referred to Allied Hospital, Faisalabad.
Preliminary investigation by the police suggests the consumption of poison. Financial constraints and frequent domestic disputes between the husband and wife are believed to have contributed to the tragic incident. The Toba Tek Singh Police have registered an FIR against Asghar and initiated an investigation.
A woman has been arrested by the Tandlianwala City Police in Toba Tek Singh after she threatened to falsely accuse neighbours of desecrating the Quran.
Under the First Information Report (FIR) filed under Section 211 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 16 of the Punjab Maintenance of the Public Order Ordinance 1960 , 21 complaints claimed the woman was a drug dealer. According to Dawn, when the culprit was confronted by local residents about her alleged activities, she threatened to desecrate the Holy Quran and blame the neighbors and ignite violence within the community.
According to witnesses, the woman threatened to falsely implicate her neighbours in the Quran desecration case in the Jaranwala incident that took place on August 16.
Police have arrested the woman and shifted her to the Faisalabad district jail.
A sub-campus of the University of Agriculture Faisalabad located in Toba Tek Singh has issued a new dress code for students, faculty members and administrative staff. The new dress code was issued by Principal Dr Nisar Ahmad.
As per the issued notification by the Principal, female students are not allowed to wear T-shirts with jeans, sleeveless shirts, see-through and skintight dresses, heavy make-up, flashy and heavy jewellery and anklets.
In addition, male students are not allowed to wear shorts, cut-off jeans, multi-pocket, faded, torn and skin-fitted jeans and trousers, T-shirts with messages of any kind, chappals and slippers, bandanas, caps, vest of any kind, long hair and ponytails, earrings, wrist straps and bracelets.
Earlier, this year in September The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) ordered female teachers not to wear jeans and tights and barred male teachers from wearing jeans and t-shirts.
Three boys who gang-raped a 15-year-old girl and stripped her eight-year-old sister at Chak 324-JB Paira on Sunday have been arrested by the police.
As per reports, the suspects recorded the crime with a mobile phone while they failed to rape the eight-year-old girl.
A first information report (FIR) was filed with the City Police under sections 376 (2) (rape), 377-B (sexual abuse) and 292-C (child pornography) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the father of the girls.
He alleged that his daughters went to a nearby forest to bring some firewood where three suspects overpowered them.
They gang-raped the elder girl, stripped the younger one and tried to rape her.
District Police Officer Rana Umer Farooq said all the three suspects have been detained while both the girls were taken to the district headquarters hospital where the women doctors confirmed that the elder girl was raped after a medical examination report.
Despite Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan telling bureaucrats that they need to change their mindsets because “there is no room for ancient practices in Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Naya Pakistan”, The Current has learnt details of the harrowing experience of a group of junior bureaucrats who were “subjected to torture” by their boss in Toba Tek Singh district of Punjab.
According to sources, at least four of the said junior bureaucrats — currently serving as assistant commissioners (ACs) in different parts of the district — were subjected to torture by the deputy commissioner (DC) who “robbed” them of their official vehicles on late Saturday night and forced them to walk back to their posts over “poor performance”.
“The ACs included those of Toba Tek Singh, Kamalia, Pir Mahal and Gojra tehsils,” they said and added the junior bureaucrats were ridiculed in front of lower staff of the DC Office as well as that of their own. “Reprimanding your juniors over unsatisfactory performance is one thing but mistreating them, the way it was in this case, is outrageous.”
Speaking to The Current, one of the ACs, on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that they had been subjected to torture as the DC, besides taking away their official vehicles, had also mistreated them by forcing them to stand outside the office as a punishment until around 1 am when they were told to walk back home. “We managed to make arrangements for our commute but three of us were women, and family members of my colleagues believe the mistreatment has scarred their daughters for life.”
“This is not at all acceptable and we want the government to take action but it can cost us our careers,” said the AC, to which sources said that the victims feared calling their boss out or approaching high-ups because their immediate superior, which in this case is the DC, is responsible to evaluate them in the annual confidential report (ACR) that is a performance evaluation of a public servant.
Toba Tek Singh tehsil AC, on the other hand, rejected his own colleagues’ claims. “It was just a routine meeting and nothing happened,” he said. When informed that his colleagues had already confirmed the claims regarding their mistreatment, the AC said “the DC can say anything to her officers”.
“It was a meeting between the DC and her officers and we, under ethics of the service, are bound to obey the orders of our seniors.”
Contrary to Toba Tek Singh AC’s beliefs, several other public servants and locals privy to the development are of the view that the DC “must be transferred for the sake of the people of the district as Eidul Azha and Muharram amid the coronavirus pandemic are around the corner and local authorities under such a supervisor cannot give their best at a sensitive time”.
“There is a difference between running a tight ship and stooping as low as the DC did,” they say, urging Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar to take action.
Repeated attempts were made to contact Toba Tek Singh DC as she was informed of the claims made by her subordinates but she did not comment.
Attempts were also made to contact Punjab Information Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan to ask him about the government’s reaction to the incident and progress on its promise of revamping bureaucracy for better governance, but he too was unavailable.
Meanwhile, PTI Toba Tek Singh President Dr Waheed Akbar Chaudhry and local leader as well as Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar’s brother, Chaudhry Muhammad Ramzan, have “appreciated” the DC over her treatment of the ACs.
“People are always complaining about these officers for doing nothing. Whatever the DC has done was the right thing to do and we hope she will continue discharging her duties diligently and without any leniency,” they said in a statement.
