Lahore court convicts man for assaulting wife, mother-in-law

LAHORE: A model criminal court (minor offences) on Wednesday issued a judgment in a domestic abuse case, convicting a man of assaulting his wife and mother-in-law.

Judicial Magistrate Hamidul Rahman Nasir conducted the trial, which involved testimony from several witnesses, including the victims and police investigators.

The incident took place on April 2, 2021, when a dispute erupted at the man’s residence in the jurisdiction of the Shafiqabad police station.

According to the first information report (FIR), the conflict began when the man allegedly pressured his wife to seek employment against her wishes. When she refused, he and several of his family members reportedly began to beat her.

Following a telephone call from the wife, her mother and brother arrived at the scene.

The prosecution argued that during the ensuing confrontation, the man assaulted his mother-in-law, tearing her clothes and beating her until she lost consciousness. Neighbours eventually intervened to rescue the victims.

The couple had been married for about one year and three months before the incident, and the wife gave birth to a daughter three months ago, according to the FIR.

The FIR, however, stated that after only two months of marriage, the husband began subjecting his wife to routine physical abuse. As a result, she stayed at her parents’ house for about eight months and received medical treatment at their expense.

The defence contended that the FIR was fabricated and noted the absence of official Medical Legal Certificates (MLCs).

However, the prosecution explained that hospital protocols during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and police negligence during the investigation contributed to the lack of formal documentation.

The magistrate found the man guilty under Section 354 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which addresses assaulting or using criminal force against a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty.

The magistrate observed that minor inconsistencies in testimony due to the passage of time did not invalidate the consistent core allegations against the primary accused.

He also relied upon recent legal precedents from the Supreme Court (SC) and Lahore High Court (LHC) regarding delays in registering FIRs, stating that victims should not be penalised for police inefficiency.

In the judgment announced on Tuesday, the magistrate sentenced the husband to three months of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of Rs1,500 for assaulting his wife.

He was also awarded another three-month rigorous imprisonment for assaulting his mother-in-law, along with a fine of Rs1,500.

The magistrate’s order said both sentences would run concurrently.

After the announcement of the verdict, the accused, who was present in the court, was taken into custody and shifted to the district jail to serve his sentence.

Four other accused were exonerated for lack of evidence.

An alarming number of over 15,000 cases of violence and harassment against women occurred in Punjab in the first half of 2025, and an average of 85 women face violence every day, according to the Sustainable Social Development Organisation (SSDO) in its bi-annual Violence Against Women Punjab 2025 factsheet.

The findings depicted a grim picture of women’s safety in Punjab. On average, nine women were raped every day, 51 were kidnapped, and 24 endured domestic violence during the first half of the year.

In January, the SC called out societal apathy towards victims of domestic violence, noting that despite sustained maltreatment by their husbands and in-laws, women are still forced to return to the same abusive environments.