“My father gave maulvi sahib (cleric) money in front of me and he then asked the police officer to beat me.”
“The police officer took me into a room, he made me lie down on a bench….and thrashed me.”
We live in the twenty-first century, yet it is appalling to know that Muslim women in Pakistan and other countries as well, still face numerous problems especially in terms of marriage and womanhood.
Muslim girls are often not given the right to choose their life partners and later when they are married, they are usually victims of Islamic domestic violence. Although, most Muslim women in Pakistan will always accept a forced marriage as their fate and destined by Allah, and will quietly sign their marriage certificates [for many Muslim women still stand up for their rights, will challenge and refuse to do so – ultimately the luckier ones survive whilst the unfortunate are slaughtered and killed in the name of honour]. The video shows the fate of such Muslim women, who face these harsh Islamic practices; they are brutally beaten and threatened till they succumb to the wishes of those forcing them to get married.
Recently, a law has been passed that aims to protect women’s rights. The (Pakistan Criminal Law Amendment) Act 2011 states that the culprit will receive a fine and imprisonment. It further states that women cannot be forcefully married to someone, and even the Quran. Anyone convicted of forcing a woman into marriage or of stealing her inheritance will be sentenced to prison for three to ten years, or will have to pay a fine of around US$6,000.
“In the name of honor” is a documentary about Pakistani Muslim women, who encounter violence from parents to husband.