Pakistan (MNN)
— On July 26, police beat Farzana Bibi, a pregnant Christian woman, and
dragged her naked through the police station in the Gujrat District of Punjab,
Pakistan. Despite her severe pain, they
detained her for two days before transferring her to the Tehsil Headquarters
Hospital in Kharian, International Christian Concern reports. She miscarried at the hospital.
Farzana
works as a maid for a wealthy Muslim man. When jewelry was stolen from a female attending a wedding at his home, the
man accused her and a Muslim maid of theft. The police arrested both women without proof, but they only mistreated
Farzana, even though she told them she was pregnant.
"Police
registered a fake theft case against my wife and Rehana without any proof,"
said Farzana's husband, Nazir Masih.
"Sub-Inspector Zulfiqar and Assistant Sub-Inspector Akhter subjected her
to intense torture. They stripped off
her clothes and dragged her naked around the compound of Cantonment Area Police
Station in Kharian. They humiliated and
tortured my wife, but did not do anything to Rehana."
Nazir filed
a report about what happened with the District Police Officer in Gujrat, and
the District Office began an investigation.
It suspended Zulfiqar and Akhter and withdrew the charges against the
women. It also promised to punish
everyone responsible for Farzana's mistreatment.
"While we were not able to confirm whether Farzana was innocent of
robbing her employers, it is absolutely unacceptable for police to humiliate
her and abuse her so severely that she lost her child," said Jeremy Sewall,
Advocacy Director for International Christian Concern.
"The fact that the Muslim woman accused of the same thing was at
least treated like a human being just proves again that if you are not a Muslim
in Pakistan, you have no rights. The government
should go beyond suspending the two officers guilty of this crime and try them
for manslaughter."
