Islamabad, Oct 24 (IANS) A Pakistani court has sent a man to three days’ police custody on charges of assaulting and stripping off a Hindu woman in broad daylight in Sindh province.
After police in New Chhor town in Umerkot district presented the suspect, who was arrested Tuesday night, before the second judicial magistrate, the court remanded him in police custody for three days Wednesday, the Dawn reported Thursday.
A case has been registered under sections 354-A and 337-A of the Pakistan Penal Code — assault or use of criminal force on woman and stripping her of clothes.
The victim’s mother said her 30-year-old married daughter, a resident of Senhoi village near Chhor, had come to visit her some days back for the Hindu festival of Diwali.
Tuesday evening, she and her daughter went to the market to buy some ornaments where the accused grabbed the victim by her hair and dragged her.
The woman’s shirt tore and fell apart.
According to an FIR, some people intervened and saved the woman and covered her with a piece of cloth.
The suspect escaped, abusing and threatening the women.
Tehreek-i-Insaf minority leader and member of National Assembly Lal Malhi, Pakistan Peoples Party minority leader and member of the provincial assembly Khatumal Jewan, and nationalist leader Abdul Wahid Arisar have condemned the incident and demanded that the authorities bring the attacker to justice.
Senior Umerkot police officer Abdul Qayyoom Pitafi told the Dawn that a dispute between the Soomra community and the Mangrios over a plot of land might be the reason behind the incident.
However, the woman’s family have said they have nothing to do with the dispute.
Indo-Asian News Service
bb/vt