Suspects in Faisalabad stripping case get bail
A Faisalabad sessions court on Tuesday, January 25, ordered the release of five suspects involved in the alleged torture and public stripping of four women in December last year.
Millat Town police have also removed section 354A (assault or use of criminal force to woman and stripping her of her clothes), which carries the death penalty, from the charge sheet. Per details, on December 6, 2021, four women who were collecting scrap paper in Bawa Chak Market in Millat Town entered Usman Electric Store and attempted to steal some items.
The shop owner and his four employees apprehended the women and began torturing them, during which they were stripped and filmed. The scuffle attracted a large crowd of mostly men. A case was registered when videos of the incident were shared and widely circulated online. The store owner and his employees were arrested and booked under 147 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 354A and 509 (insulting modesty or causing sexual harassment) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
However, CCTV footage from cameras installed inside and outside the shop reportedly showed the women removing their own clothes in order to save themselves from the crowd. The footage, which went viral on social media, was made part of the investigation.
A counter case was filed against the four women by the store owner’s brother for breaking in and attempting to steal, following which the women disappeared.
After hearing arguments, the sessions court granted bail to the five accused men in the case.
52 babies delivered in Sindh ambulances in 2021
Last year, 52 babies were delivered by paramedics in the ambulances of Sindh Rescue and Medical Services (SRMS) while their mothers were enroute to hospitals in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta and Sujawal.
According to a report by Samaa, deliveries in ambulances or on roadsides are mainly due to a lack of awareness regarding pregnancy and labour among the general populace. Quoting Executive Director of SRMS, Abid Naveed, the report stated that most families prefer babies be delivered at home by a midwife, which in most instances can be life-threatening for the mother and child.
Ambulances were hired when the mother already went into labour – in such situations, shifting the patient can be extremely risky and may involve complications, which is why it is necessary in these cases to deliver the baby in the ambulance.
Resolution in Punjab Assembly for cheaper COVID testing
PML-N MPA Hina Pervaiz Butt on Wednesday, January 26, tabled a resolution in the Punjab Assembly against skyrocketing charges for COVID-19 tests by private laboratories and suggested a controlled price of Rs. 90 per person.
She provided that the largest three private laboratories in the province were raking in Rs. 8,000 per test, a price far too steep for the average Pakistani to pay. She demanded that the government set the price of COVID-19 testing to Rs. 90, a similar fee mandated for dengue tests during the PML-N’s government tenure.
