Telephone lineman harasses mother of sodomised child
Karachi:Hoor Bano, mother of ten-year-old ‘A’ who was subjected to sexual abuse by his area lineman, Zeeshan, in Aarambagh on March 14, has constantly been receiving threats to withdraw her case.
Zeeshan abducted ‘A’ when he was playing in the Aarambagh Park near his house. ‘A’ was not only sodomised but he was also hit badly with a hammer. “My son’s nose and head were bleeding profusely by the time I returned. I immediately rushed him to the Civil Hospital where the staff refused to perform a medico-legal examination until an FIR against Zeeshan was lodged,” said Bano.
It was only after an FIR was registered that the examination was conducted on March 16, which confirmed his sexual abuse. Bano added during an interview with The News that Zeeshan also used his influence to pressurise the police and stay at large.
Since the time of the incident until two weeks back, ‘A’ was under treatment at a hospital. “Accomplices of Zeeshan started pressuring me to withdraw my case. They disrupted the power and water supply at my house, compelling me to move into my brother’s house.
Later, when Zeeshan discovered my whereabouts he started threatening my brother too so my brother shifted to another safer place,” disclosed Bano. When she returned home with her son, she found broken pieces of tube light on the stairs of her house. Moreover, she found several bugs and lizards in the house, which she alleged that was a nuisance created by Zeeshan too. “I know he will harass us to end.
But I will not withdraw the case. It took ‘A’ over a month to recover at the hospital but he is still not able to sit properly because of the cruelty he was subjected to.” Bano refused to talk about her husband. “I live alone with my son,” she says. She is a government school teacher and has not been able to attend school frequently as she feared her son would be attacked again.
A written application by the mother was submitted to the Madadgaar Helpline, whose lawyers were assisting her in the case but they too received threats. “We receive anonymous calls every other day preventing us to pursue the case. They also claimed that Hoor Bano was mentally disturbed. She came to us for help and we are trying our best to support her,” said Advocate Zia Awan.
However, Bano says that Zeeshan’s assistants are giving contradictory statements. “If I really am retarded why do they come at my doorstep and plead that I should withdraw the case?” She looked extremely harassed at this point and has urgently appealed to the government to investigate the case and provide her with a shelter home where she and her son could be safe.
Source: The News
Date:5/8/2007
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