Zeeshan had arrived outside Rimsha’s home early in the morning that day.
Rimsha’s mother Nazia had seen him and noticed what was in his hand. Even Rimsha’s brother, leaving for work at 7am, saw Zeeshan lurking in the corner. He called his sister.
“There is nothing to worry about,” she said. “The divorce has been agreed upon, and he’s been served court notice.” She wanted everyone to ignore him. It was the only way to deal with him, she felt. Nothing else had worked before.
She got ready for work and headed out, putting the padlock on the bolt of the front gate.
“I told you if you are not mine, you belong to no one else.”
Rimsha was unnerved. She realised he was standing right behind her. It must be a bluff, a new trick to frighten me, she thought. But then something did not feel right. It was too early in the morning and no one was in the street. Zeeshan was right behind her.
She decided in a split second that perhaps she should go back inside–but the gate was locked. Her neighbourh’s door was, however, open. She leapt for it. But Zeeshan had yanked on her burka.
She then felt a searing, burning wetness down the back of her neck to her back…
It would take her hours to regain consciousness at the Burns Center of the Dr Ruth K. M. Pfau Civil Hospital. When we went to talk to her, the 20-year-old agreed to tell her story from her hospital bed. Her tale is different from many other women only in one respect: she witnessed the attack in the making.
She saw it coming
Rimsha saw it coming, not on that fateful day in August, but much earlier, months before her skin smouldered from the flesh-eating liquid on August 21.
Zeeshan, her estranged husband, had been stalking her for months.
She and her parents should have reported him to the police, you may say. Rimsha had done precisely that four months before the attack. She had also pleaded with Zeeshan’s father, reportedly an influential man.
Rimsha’s story is a playbook example of how an acid attack unfolds over months or years. It also shows how crimes against women are always benighted by victim-blaming even when the victim experiences the worst physical harm or death.
Many people would like to call it a love marriage gone sour because it helps shift half of the blame on to Rimsha. The police say she and Zeeshan married two years ago after building a relationship on social media. Rimsha was a TikToker before marriage, but when she did not give up making the videos, the couple fought and she decided to leave Zeeshan, according to the police. This is what Zeeshan told the police, claiming that he threw acid on Rimsha because her TikTok videos had angered him.
Zeeshan insists Rimsha was still his wife; Rimsha says she had started divorce proceedings.
Rimsha’s side of the story completes the picture.
They entered a free-will marriage in 2019 when Rimsha was barely 18, according to her mother Nazia.
Rimsha told SAMAA Digital that Zeeshan’s family opposed their marriage because he is from a “Syed” family and his parents wanted him to marry a Syed girl. On the other hand, Rimsha’s family opposed the marriage because they did not want to marry their daughter into a Syed family – as they felt that it constituted disrespect to the saadat or Syeds, the descendants of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).
Missed opportunities
Zeeshan suggested they run away. Rimsha hesitated, telling Zeeshan his family would not accept them and, eventually, he would blame her for the hard life they were likely to face in the event of a free-will marriage. Zeeshan promised that was not going to happen; “Never,” he had said.
They married and Rimsha did not see her parent for the next four months.
One night, Zeeshan returned home late – at 3 am – and beat Rimsha. The violence left the four-month-old bride bleeding. The next morning, she went to her parents, who took her to the Saeedabad police station and lodged a complaint against Zeeshan.
Three months passed and there were no consequences for Zeeshan.
He went back to her and his in-laws for a razi nama (reconciliation). She returned with Zeeshan.
For the police – representing the State – and parents from both sides, this was the first opportunity when they had a chance to frustrate a tragedy in the making.
But no one put their foot down.
Zeeshan’s violent behaviour resurfaced sooner than expected. Rimsha could not put up with it and decided to leave Zeeshan for good this time. But he would not let go of her. He would turn up in front of her parent’s home and stalk Rimsha whenever she stepped out.
Rimsha went to the Saeedabad police station for a second time to lodge a second complaint against Zeeshan. Much to her chagrin, the police told her to first obtain a khula decree from the court before they could act against Zeeshan – who, if you go by the logic the police used – enjoyed impunity because he was still her husband.
She filed for khula in family court, which sent Zeeshan notices. Rimsha took copies of the notices to the police, pleading with the officials to act against her estranged husband, who by then had been harassing her whenever she left for work.
Instead, the Saeedabad police told her that Zeeshan’s father had assured them the man would never bother her.
This was the third missed opportunity to prevent something worse from happening.
Influential father
Why did the police not act against Zeeshan in response to Rimsha’s repeated requests for law enforcement and protection?
As it turned out, Zeeshan and his family held sway in Baldia Town, so much so that their influence had helped Zeeshan escape scratch-free from potential murder charges after he allegedly shot dead a man on New Year’s eve this year.
Rimsha claims that on New Year’s eve Zeeshan shot a person standing near him, not by accident, but with intent to kill because he was an old acquaintance. After the incident, Zeeshan took Rimsha with him and fled to Abbottabad in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. When the couple returned to Karachi, the police raided their home to arrest Zeeshan, whose father allegedly bribed the police Rs150,000 to lay off.
Baldia Town Superintendent of Police Faizan Ali confirmed to SAMAA Digital that Zeeshan has a prior record of crime. He confirmed that Zeeshan had been nominated in a case involving the death of a man by gunshot on New Year’s eve. The case was registered under Section 337 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Zeeshan was one of the accused, the police officer said. He refused to offer details as he said the death was being investigated.
SP Faizan Ali confirmed that Rimsha had repeatedly approached the Saeedabad police station to lodge complaints against Zeeshan. Ali said the police summoned both families who agreed to reconcile and Zeeshan’s father gave in writing that his son would never stalk Rimsha.
The attack
Rimsha’s family decided that she will marry her cousin after the khula. Zeeshan’s parents, too, were able to find a prospective daughter-in-law, who was now engaged to be married to their son. However, Zeeshan wanted Rimsha back. He would turn up outside her parent’s home and press Rimsha to come back. He said he was ready to end his engagement.
Rimsha kept refusing.
Then Zeeshan asked his friend Malik Mir Balash to supply him a bottle of acid. And then, on Saturday, August 21, Zeeshan attacked Rimsha with it. The acid burnt her neck and upper torso. She was rushed to a private health facility and then moved to the Burns Centre. At least 36% of her body has sustained deep scars.
Zeeshan fled the scene; he was arrested by the next Sunday.
The police have also arrested Balash who confessed to providing the acid. A local court remanded the duo to three-day police custody on the subsequent Monday.
Meanwhile, Rimsha has little hope of a full recovery – such victims rarely recover from these attacks physically or psychologically. Meanwhile, it is business as usual at the Saeedabad police station. Zeeshan and Balash have been arrested but the system has only come into action after a woman’s life has been destroyed.
from SAMAA https://ift.tt/3h25Ij5
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