Woman’s legs chopped as she tried to end abusive marriage

In yet another instance of patriarchal honour, a Pakistani woman’s legs were chopped by her father and uncles for filing for divorce to end an abusive marriage, reported Geo News.

In patriarchal societies, violence has been used as a social mechanism to perpetuate the subjugation of women. The woman, named Sobia Batool Shah, told police that her legs were chopped for seeking a divorce from her abusive and deadbeat husband, who never took responsibility for his family.

The deeply disturbing act of violence occurred in Gul Town, leaving the victim with severe physical as well as mental trauma, which may result in a lifelong disability–with the possibility that she may never be able to walk again. Reportedly, Syed Mustafa Shah, Sobia’s father, and her uncles Syed Qurban Shah, Ehsan Shah, Shah Nawaz, and Mushtaq Shah, who were armed with axes, injured Sobia and fled the spot, leaving her screaming for help in a pool of blood, according to Geo News.

Sobia was rushed to a Nawab Shah Hospital as soon as the police reached the crime scene. The woman further told police that her husband would regularly abuse her and fail to provide for her and their two children, leaving her to suffer on her own in Karachi.

According to Sobia, she repeatedly alerted her parents about the plight she was in, but her family turned a deaf ear to her grievances and dismissed her, calling her a disgrace, as reported by Geo News. After deciding to escape her abusive marriage, Sobia filed for divorce, which incited her father and uncles to confront her.

According to the police, Sobia’s enraged parents accused her of bringing dishonour to the family by taking legal action against her husband. When she refused to withdraw her case, they attacked her with axes, they added, reported Geo News. The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Nausharoferoz took immediate notice of the incident and ordered the local station house officer (SHO) to bring all the accused to justice and ensure the victim’s security.

Responding to the directions, the police have so far managed to arrest one suspect, Mushtaq Shah, and are still investigating through raids, in search of the remaining culprits. Patriarchal values are embedded in Pakistani society, which determines the subordinated position of women.

Patriarchal control over women is exercised through institutionalized restrictive codes of behaviour, gender segregation and the ideology which associates family honour with female virtue. The abnormal, amoral, and harmful customary practices which aim at preserving the subjugation of women, are defended and sanctified as cultural traditions and given religious overtones.

Abnormal and amoral traditional practices in Pakistan include honour killing, rape and sexual assault, sexual harassment, acid attacks, being burned, kidnapping, domestic violence, dowry murder, forced marriages, custodial abuse and torture.