Woman paraded naked for sons' 'sins'
2011-06-14 14:00
Islamabad - A Pakistani mother has been forcibly paraded naked through a village after her sons were accused of sleeping with a married neighbour who became pregnant, police said on Tuesday.
Pakistan is a deeply conservative Muslim country, where women, especially in poor, rural areas, enjoy few rights, have little protection from the police and are often treated as commodities by their relatives.
The incident happened after neighbour Mohammad Salman grew suspicious that the woman's sons slept with his wife in Neelor Bala village, 100kkm north of Islamabad, said police official Akhtar Nawaz.
Enraged Salman and his brothers went to confront the suspects, who were identified only as Rashid and Kazim, but they had fled, leaving behind their mother, Nawaz said.
"They dragged her out, tore up her clothes and forced her to walk naked on the street," the police official said.
"No one has come to lodge a formal complaint. Police registered a case themselves after receiving reports from local residents," he said.
An investigation is underway and two people have been taken into custody for questioning, he said.
Police investigation officer Shabbir Hussain Shah said the statement of the woman, who is aged about 50, had been recorded.
Salman, who works in the eastern city of Lahore, believed that one of the brothers had got his wife pregnant while he was away from home, Shah said.
Rights for women in Pakistan are bleak. The nation still remains without a domestic violence law, pending objections from a hardline Islamic party.
- SAPA
