Two sisters, married into the same household in Sindh’s Khairpur district, were ‘rescued’ and their husbands arrested after the women alleged that they had being been subjected to sexual and physical violence for five years.
Sarim Burney ─ a rights activist who helped recover the victims ─ told Dawn he had been informed by an anonymous source four days ago about the two women’s ordeal. He had subsequently rushed to their residence in Gambat, where the “poor women were being subjected to the worst form of torture and being labelled as ‘kari’”.
The two women were later brought to the Hyderabad Press Club, where they narrated their ordeal to the media.
According to the younger sister, who preferred to speak on behalf of both: “We were forced to sleep with our husbands’ brothers off and on by our own husbands ever since we were married.”
“Whenever I raised a small argument, my mother-in-law asked her sons to take me to the room, strip me and then beat me. My sister and I were often denuded before the entire family including our husbands’ brothers,” she alleged while showing visible marks on her arms, face and head.
“Whenever our brothers visited us, our husbands and mother-in-law would always sit with us so that we do not share anything,” she said.
Furthermore, she claimed that the two sisters were kept locked in the home whenever their husbands left.
“I finally fled from the house with my daughter after scaling the walls last Friday,” she said adding that she had since spent one night at the police station and two nights at her aunt’s house.
The woman’s son was rescued later on Monday, along with the older sister and her daughter from a previous marriage.
SSP Khairpur Shabbir Sethar confirmed that four men accused in the case had been arrested on Monday, saying that a case had been lodged on the complaint of one of the victims.