BAHAWALPUR: Three armed men allegedly subjected a married woman to torture for resisting their attempt to rape her near Chak No 116-DNB in the limits of Derawar police station in Cholistan.

According to the first information report (FIR) No 427/23, registered under sections 376 and 511 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) Derawar police on the complaint of ‘A’, she worked as a cotton-picker in the fields of a landlord ‘N’.

She said that on Tuesday her husband sent her to N’s outhouse to collect her wages.

She alleged that as she reached there, ‘N’ and his two drunk accomplices forcibly took her in a room and attempted to rape her at gunpoint.

She said that on offering resistance, the suspects subjected her to severe torture with pistol butt and the handle of an axe and threw her in the sand dunes in injured condition.

Later, the woman’s husband and other locals, who were looking for her, shifted her to Khutri Bungalow health facility, where she was medically examined and provided treatment.

On being informed of the incident, a police team also reached there and after recording

the woman’s statement registered the FIR against the suspects, who could not be arrested so far.

The police said they were waiting for the woman’s medical report to take action against the suspects.

MEPCO DEFAULTERS: A number of federal and provincial government departments owing more than Rs4 billion to the Mulan Electric Power Company (Mepco) have been served notices, warning them of power disconnection if they failed to pay their dues within a week’s time.

According to a Mepco press release, some of the main defaulters include Multan Wasa with over Rs3bn, Mumtazabad Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) over Rs250m, Shairshah TMA over Rs130m, Multan health department over Rs140m, irrigation and power department over Rs20m and Jalalpur Peerwala TMA over Rs90m.

All executive engineers in the circle have been directed to contact these departments’ regional and divisional heads to ensure payment of dues to avoid power disconnection.

Published in Dawn, November 23rd, 2023