Family shaves Karachi woman’s hair for wishing to marry against their will

KARACHI: A young nurse faced a horrible reaction after expressing her wish to marry a colleague, as her family opposed the match and subjected her to violence by partially shaving her head as a form of punishment.

The incident occurred in a locality near Quaidabad.

The police have registered a case against the perpetrators and arrested five suspects, including the nurse’s father, mother, and grandmother.

SHO Firasat Hussain told Geo News that the 22-year-old victim, who works as a paramedic at a local hospital in Karachi, filed an FIR (No 831/24) at the Quaidabad Police Station.

The nurse had expressed her wish to marry a man who works with her at the same facility, which led to severe backlash from her family.

Upon refusal, her father and other family members, including a paternal uncle, physically assaulted her, shaving off her hair to prevent her from stepping outside.

The police investigation revealed that the victim's parents had separated seven months ago and she and her sisters had moved to her mother's place, a rented house.

For the past month, her father frequently visited them to pressurise them to move back to his place. This was when the nurse had expressed her wish to marry her colleague.

On December 12, the nurse claimed, her father beat her and her sisters again, after which they temporarily took refuge at a friend's house in Green Town.

She further said that on December 20, her parents, uncle, and other relatives came to her friend's house in the afternoon, beat her, tore her clothes, and shaved her head.

She said they took her to her father’s house in Quaidabad, where she was wrongfully confined, adding that it was after she managed to contact her lawyer that police rescued her from wrongful confinement.

Responding to the complaint, the police arrested five individuals, including her father, mother, grandmother, uncle, and a female neighbour. Later, the suspects were presented in court, where they were granted bail. The police confirmed that further investigations are ongoing to uncover more details about the case.