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Pakistani Woman Arrested for Adultery
By KHALID TANVEER 12/18/2002 12:26:09 EST
A Pakistani woman who was ordered beaten by a village council after she confessed
to having an affair has been arrested on charges of adultery, police said Wednesday.
Two of the men who had a role in the punishment also were arrested, police official
Riaz Ahmed told The Associated Press.
Adultery carries a maximum punishment of death by stoning, but such punishments
have never been enforced in Pakistan.
The woman, Mumtaz Mai, 45, was beaten up and had her hair shorn Monday on
orders of a village council in Chaddar Bhanda, 280 miles south of the capital,
Islamabad.
In addition, Mai's lover was forced to marry his 3-year-old daughter to her 4-year-old
son as compensation for her lost honor.
The council was convened by Mai's husband, Mohammed Hussein, to punish her for
the affair with Ghulam Mustafa. Hussein said he at first suspected Mustafa of
kidnapping his wife, but when he found her with him in a nearby city, Mai confessed to
the affair, Ahmed said.
After the council verdict, several men - including Mai's brother - beat her and cut off her
hair. The brother and the council leader who issued the sentence were both arrested
by police on charges of public humiliation, Ahmed said.
Shortly after the council's ruling, an Islamic cleric in the village performed a marriage
ceremony between Mai's 4-year-old son and Mustafa's 3-year-old daughter. Mustafa
was also ordered to give Mai's family a bull cart and some land as compensation.
Children are often promised in marriage at a young age in Pakistan, with the union
consummated later. Ahmed said authorities are asking Islamic scholars whether the
forced marriage was legally valid.
Violence against women is common in Pakistan, especially in conservative rural
areas.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said in a report last week
that at least 461 women have been killed by family members in so-called "honor
killings" this year, an increase from 372 reported the year before. |
