Peshawar: Teenage girl ‘stripped naked’ in crowded street

PESHAWAR: A teenage girl was allegedly stripped naked in a crowded street in the urban Kachi Mohalla locality to punish her family for filing a complaint against the accused at the local police station.

One Shakila, 50, told the police that one Zafar clashed with her nephew Waseem on Friday after which she and her family members lodged a complaint at the Gulfat Hussain Shaheed Police Station.

She added that while on way back home she took her 15-year old daughter, (I), from the house of her brother.

“Mazhar, brother of Zafar, intercepted us on the way. He tore off the clothes of my daughter in public. When people around us rushed to help us, the accused escaped. One of my relatives, Tanvir covered my daughter with a chaddar,” Shakila complained in the first information report lodged with the Gulfat Hussain Shaheed Police Station. The complainant said there were a number of people in the street who were witnesses to what had happened to her daughter.

The police lodged the case under Sections 354 A of the Pakistan Penal Code.

“I want strict punishment for all those who were involved in this act so that nobody could dare do such a thing,” the victim told reporters.

She said that she was going home along with her mother from her uncle’s house when the accused attacked her. She alleged that the accused removed her shawl and tore off her clothes. “The locals rushed to cover me with their chaddars,” she added.

Station House Officer Wajid Shah told reporters that the two parties were relatives and had clashed. He said both the groups had approached the police.

“We lodged their complaints and sent the victims to hospital. In the meanwhile when the girl was going home from her uncle’s house, Mazhar stopped her and tore off her clothes. The victim later approached the police and we lodged the FIR,” Wajid Shah said.

He added that two members of the accused party had been arrested and raids were being conducted to apprehend Mazhar.

District Nazim Muhammad Asim Khan visited the victim family late Friday and directed the police to arrest the accused at the earliest. The incident is first of its kind in Peshawar in recent years.

A similar incident was reported in Dera Ismail Khan a few months back.

Meanwhile, Capital City Police Officer Qazi Jamilur Rahman has taken note of the incident and constituted a team headed by Superintendent of Police City to arrest the accused.