NAROWAL: Sialkot police have registered an FIR against a policeman on charges of torturing and burning his wife over a dowry issue.

Labourer Tariq Mahmood, a resident of Satuki, Daska tehsil, Sialkot district, reported to the police that his 14-year-old daughter, Mubeen Fatima, was married to constable Waqas Nazir of Pasrur tehsil some five months ago.

He told Dawn whenever he visited the house of his daughter’s in-laws, he was told that she was happy and did not want to meet the family.

He said when his daughter came to his home after five months, she alleged that her husband used to torture her and even burnt her body with an iron, besides keeping her in chains.

Tariq alleged that Waqas also set his wife (Fatima) on fire by sprinkling petrol on her. When he asked his son-in-law the reason for this cruelty, he opened fire and threatened to kill him.

He said his daughter was under treatment in the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital, Pasrur.

The complainant alleged that the accused, unhappy over dowry, was used to torture his daughter with the help of his sister Sadaf.

Sialkot District Police Officer Muhammad Hassan Iqbal ordered Pasrur Sadr police to take a legal action.

Meanwhile, the accused made several calls to a journalist and threatened to kill him. On the orders of the DPO, police have made alleged threats to the journalist part of the FIR.

Khurram Shehzad, a spokesperson to Sialkot district police, said the accused, posted at the Satrah police station, had been suspended by the DPO who had also ordered a departmental inquiry against him.

The accused is yet to be arrested.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2023