July 10, 2024
By Aitzaz Ibrahim
LAHORE
A horrifying video showing men attempting to cut off a woman’s nose with a knife went viral on social media recently, leading to the arrest of one out of four accused. The incident has sparked outrage and prompted a police investigation.
The brutal act occurred in Shah Saddar Din, a suburb of Dera Ghazi Khan. The police registered a case on July 6, 2024, after the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) took notice of the video circulating on social media.
Talking to Voicepk, Nadeem Ashraf, representing NCHR, says that his organisation picked up the case from the media because, “it is disturbing to see cases of violence against women rise in the past few days”. The NCHR had requested the police on July 6 to submit a detailed report on the incident “within three days”.
Javed Siddiqui, a journalist based in Dera Ghazi Khan, broke the news by posting the news of the involvement of four men in the act of stabbing Salma Bibi’s nose on Facebook on June 19. He said the incident occurred a few days before Eidul Azha. However, the police accused him of spreading false news.
Talking to Voicepk, Siddiqui said that Salma Bibi’s nose was cut off on the orders of her husband, following an altercation between the couple. “I shared the news on Facebook based on my sources. But the police accused me of spreading fake news and threatened me to delete the post or face consequences.”
He alleged that the police had been bribed. “They released the four accused and registered a case against me instead.”
However, after Siddiqui’s Facebook post was picked up by the local newspaper Baithak, Shehran Bibi and Salma Bibi released a video statement from the office of DPO Dera Ghazi Khan, Syed Ali, where they claimed the news was fake and that the incident never happened.
For unexplainable reasons, the video continued to spread on social media. Soon after, Shehran Bibi, who initially denied the occurrence, later acknowledged that the incident happened eight months ago. She accepted that Lashari, Safdar, and two other men had abducted Salma Bibi and threatened to cut off her nose if she didn’t develop illicit relations with them.
Dera Ghazi Khan Police spokesperson Hammad Yasir told Voicepk that a case was registered against the suspects, following the video and Shehran Bibi’s complaint, resulting in Safdar’s arrest.
Addressing the allegations against journalist Javed Siddiqui and the police’s earlier dismissal of the incident, Yasir said, “It is not the police’s fault. The sisters initially denied the incident at the DPO office but have now confessed and filed a case. There is no truth to the allegation that the police took bribes to suppress the matter.”
The police are investigating the case to determine if the incident happened eight months ago or when the journalist reported it.