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wo women riding a scooty were allegedly stopped, harassed and attacked by a man and two women following a collision in Garden Town, Multan, on August 16.
“The accused - Zahida Khurshid Salman Qureshi, Shaheer Salman Qureshi and Shahida Bibi - nominated in the FIR and are in police custody,” read an order passed by Judicial Magistrate Nimra Saleemm last Sunday. They were granted bail against surety of Rs 50,000 each.
The prime accused, Zahida Khurshid is the wife of Deputy Attorney General Mian Salman Qureshi, a PML-N ticket holder. Shaheer Qureshi, is his son and Shahida Bibi a sister-in-law.
Memoona Imran, the complainant, said she was going from her house in Nawan Sher to drop her daughter and son-in-law to their home in Garden Town on her scooty, when Zahida Qureshi, who was driving her car behind her honked at her.
“The road was completely deserted and I was in the biker’s lane on the extreme left of the road. There was enough space to overtake,” she said in an FIR, lodged with Multan Cantonment police. “Zahida, who was in the driving seat, started yelling expletives at me and my family. Then, she stopped her car and stepped out.”
“When Zahida got out of the car, she was agitated. ‘Do you know who I am? I’m the wife of Mian Salman Qureshi,’ she screamed at me before yanking me off my scooty. The other co-accused came out of the car too and started beating my daughter, me and my son-in-law. Zahida hurled a brick at my daughter and injured her foot,” reads the FIR.
The Cantonment police identified three bailable offences in the FIR under Sections 354, 342 and 506 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
“The police promptly registered the complaint but included only bailable offences in the FIR even though the contents of the complaint could justify non-bailable charges,” HRCP council member Lubna Nadeem said.
Syed Irfan Haider Shamsi, a senior criminal lawyer, said the police had “played a double game.”
“In my opinion, Section 354 (a) should have been included in the FIR instead of Section 354. It is a non-bailable. Section 506 (b), which is also non-bailable should have been cited instead of 506, which is bailable,” he said.
“Section 354 addresses the offense of assault or use of criminal force against a woman and stripping her with the additional element of exposing her to public view in that condition. The punishment for this offense is death or imprisonment for life, along with a fine. The core of the offense lies in the combination of two actions: assault or use of criminal force against a woman and stripping her. The law mandates a severe penalty, either death or imprisonment for life, and a fine,” the lawyer said.
Shamsi said that Section 506 PPC generally covers the offense of criminal intimidation. This involves threatening someone to cause them alarm or fear. Section 506(b) is a more severe form of criminal intimidation in that it involves threats that are particularly dangerous or harmful.
The PPC explains Section 506(b) as: “The section deals with the offense of criminal intimidation, specifically when the threat involves causing death, grievous hurt, or destruction of property by fire, or an offense punishable with death or imprisonment for life. It’s a serious offense, potentially leading to imprisonment (up to 7 years), a fine, or both.”
Memona Imran told The News on Sunday that she had not expected that all the accused would be granted bail so swiftly. “They insulted me in public and physically attacked me. There should be consequences.”
City Police Officer Sadiq Ali Dogar, sought for his comments, did not respond. The city police spokesperson Sub-Inspector Rao Naveed denied that the police were favouring the accused. He said that the Cantonment police had included offences in the FIR according to the complaint. “Police cannot invoke offences beyond the complaint contents. They weren’t biased. They immediately arrested the accused. They did a good job,” he said.
On August 21, another footage went viral on social media. In this clip, Zahida Salman was seen yelling at a rickshaw driver and beating him in Garden Town because he had parked his vehicle behind her car to offload a passenger.
The footage showed her stepping out of her car, using abusive language and beating the man. “Does your father own this road?” she asks the rickshaw driver who retorts with, “No, but neither does yours.”
She then starts punching the man and yelling, “I don’t want to see you in this area again.” He replies, “This is a public space, not your private property. I’ll come here whenever I need to.”
The writer is the bureau chief of The News in Multan. He may be reached at trisign69yahoo.com