November 16, 2007	Friday	Ziqa’ad 05, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Nov 15: A woman was shot dead and her three sons were tortured by four robbers when she tried to save her daughter’s modesty from them in Saddar Barooni police area in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

Jalal Khan, a resident of Dhoke Lakhan, complained to the police that four armed men entered his house and took his entire family hostage.

First the robbers forced the family to give up cash and then they asked them to hand over the jewellery which they had purchased for their daughter’s dowry.

The complainant said he gave the robbers Rs15,000 but they insisted on being given the gold ornaments as well.

Quoting one of the robbery victims, a police official said: “On being refused, the robbers got infuriated and threatened to strip the girl off in front of her parents if they did not hand them over the jewellery.

The robbers opened fire when the girl’s mother, Sanjeeda, and her uncle, Sajjad Aslam, (Sanjeeda’s brother) tried to rescue her.”

“A bullet hit Sanjeeda Begum as a result of which she died on the spot. Her brother was slightly hurt,” the official said.

He said the robbers thrashed Jalal Khan’s sons - Akmal Khan, 17, Asad Khan, 10, and Akbar Khan, 8. They also snatched two mobile phones and cash before escaping.

When contacted, SHO Saddar Barooni police station Inspector Shamim Paul said the woman was shot dead by the robbers when she offered resistance.

Till the filing of this report, the police were not able to arrest the accused.

The body of the woman was handed over to her family after the postmortem.