Pakistan: Woman prisoner burnt after fellow inmate throws hot tea, food on her

Islamabad [Pakistan], April 29 (ANI): A woman prisoner in Pakistan got multiple facial burns when another inmate threw hot tea and food on her in the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Pakistan-based Dawn newspaper reported.

The incident occurred on May 23 when the food was being distributed among the women prisoners.
The incident was confirmed by a senior official of the Punjab Prisons Department who said the condition of the woman prisoner, identified as Asma, was stable. He said the prisoner was immediately shifted to the Jinnah Hospital where she underwent a minor surgery.

He identified the woman prisoner who attacked and injured Asma as Fatima Jehangir. He said a probe into the incident by the jail authorities found the attacker to be a patient of ‘bipolar disorder and schizophrenia’, according to Dawn.

The official said a senior psychiatrist from the Services Hospital was also a part of the inquiry panel. He added that another high-level committee has also been formed to further investigate the matter.

Meanwhile, The Nation recently reported that women in prisons face discrimination and mistreatment in Pakistan. Many women are subjected to verbal and physical abuse and are even denied medical treatment by prison staffers and other inmates.

A woman’s experience in prison is frequently one of suffering, injustice, and dashed hopes. Numerous Pakistani women are enduring a reality behind those jail walls that most of us can only comprehend. They fight a system that seems to have forgotten them every day in an effort to survive. Although their cries have been muffled, their suffering cannot be disregarded!

Samina Shah, an educationist, philanthropist and social worker, working for the uplift of women in Pakistan said, “Arbitrary detention is one of the most pressing issues faced by women in Pakistani prisons.”

She also said, “Many women are detained without charge or trial, often as a result of cultural and social norms that view women as property and restrict their freedom of movement and association,” adding that a clear violation of international human rights standards, which require that all detainees be afforded due process and a fair trial, as per a report penned by Muhammad Ali Falak in a Pakistan English Daily.