PESHAWAR: A man tore off a teenage girl’s clothes in public over a minor dispute here.

The police said they’d formed a committee to arrest the suspect, who was at large.

The incident occurred outside the Puranwali Imambargah in Kachi Mohallah in the limits of Hashtnagri police station on May 30.

The local police said Mazhar beat up the 14-year-old before tearing off her clothes as she was accompanied by her mother.

They said the people covered the girl up with a shawl.

The girl’s father, Ghulam Mohyuddin, told Dawn that the suspect was distantly related to him.

He said the suspect’s brother had scuffled with his nephew earlier in the day.

Mr Mohyuddin said he went to the police station to report the scuffle as it had left his nephew Waseem Abbas injured.

He said while his wife and daughter were returning from the bazaar, the suspect thrashed his daughter and torn off her clothes.

An official of the Hashtnagri police station told Dawn that the initial investigations confirmed the incident and therefore, the police registered an FIR under Section 354A of the Pakistan Panel Code dealing with the stripping of a woman and exposing her to public view.

He, however, said the suspect was at large and the police were actively searching for him.

The offence carries the maximum punishment of death.

In a statement, the local police said their chief, Qazi Jamilur Rehman, had constituted a special committee to arrest the suspect.

They said SP (city) Shahzada Kokab Farooq would head the committee.

The police said the suspect had left his house along with family.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2018