Silenced by Fear, Betrayed by Law: Sheeza’s Cry for Justice in Pakistan

By Nasir Saeed

Can you imagine a woman being gang-raped and her four-year-old child being forced to watch, while instead of delivering justice, the state’s police abuses the woman and then tells her to “Take the money and keep quiet”?

This is not fiction—this is the harrowing reality of Sheeza Bibi, a 21-year-old Christian woman from Sangla Hill in Pakistan’s Punjab province. It was an ordinary day in June 2025. Sheeza, like countless women across the country, was at home performing daily chores and caring for her daughter. What she didn’t know was that her husband’s employer, Mohsin, had devised a plan that would shatter her life.

Mohsin, aided by his accomplices Zahid and Arsalan, allegedly orchestrated the removal of Sheeza’s husband from their home under the pretext of an imminent police raid. Using this pretext, he urged Intikhab to leave the village and even handed him some cash, claiming he was doing him a favour.

With Intikhab gone, Mohsin and the other two men forced their way into Sheeza’s house. They raped her in front of her daughter, who was helplessly restrained by one of the attackers.

When Intikhab returned and learned of the assault, the couple immediately went to the Sangla Hill Saddar Police Station to register an FIR. Instead of being offered justice and protection, they were humiliated, a female constable slapped Sheeza and physically assaulted Intikhab. The FIR was not based on their account but was dictated by the police and signed under duress. The couple was even offered a bribe of 120,000 to 150,000 rupees to drop the charges.

The betrayal didn’t end with the assault—it extended to every level of state protection. A local news channel broadcast a real video testimony of the couple, exposing the lies, coercion, and the police’s role in attempting a cover-up.

This is not just a story about Sheeza. Her ordeal is emblematic of a deeply entrenched pattern of violence and impunity that Christian and Hindu women and girls face across Pakistan. Year after year, cases of abduction, rape, forced conversion, and coerced marriage are reported. But justice rarely follows. Christian and other minority victims are often silenced—if not by violence, then by systemic neglect and judicial delay.

Take, for instance, the case of Maria Nadeem from Lahore, who was raped in January 2025. Or Mina Sadiq, assaulted in Muridke in February. In May, Asma from Sialkot was gang-raped by four young men, including someone she trusted. Her perpetrators are now in custody, but the emotional and psychological scars remain.

Last month, Farhat Bibi, a mother of five from Mian Channu, was raped in her own home. And then there is Uzma Bibi. She was abducted at gunpoint in December 2024, forcibly converted and married to her abductor. She was later found dead, her mutilated body dumped in a canal. Her case remains one of the most brutal examples of gender-based and faith-based violence in recent memory.

Sheeza’s story, like Uzma’s and Asma’s, reveals the broken promises of a nation that claims to protect and treat all its citizens equally but fails its most vulnerable because of their Christian faith. It highlights the deep rot within law enforcement, where uniforms no longer represent protection, but complicity.

What happens when the guardians of justice become gatekeepers of silence? What future awaits a society where a mother must beg for justice after being raped before her daughter, and is then beaten by those sworn to protect her?

Sheeza said in her testimony, “They did this to me in front of my daughter. One of them held her while I was raped. We were helpless. I want them punished so no woman suffers like I did.”

Her words must echo in every court, every parliament hall, and every newsroom.

This is not only about Sheeza’s dignity. This is about the thousands of women whose cries are lost in silence. This is about forcing a nation to confront the truth it keeps denying.

It is time for Pakistan to act. To hold not only the rapists but their enablers accountable. To reform a police system that behaves like a mafia. To protect every citizen, regardless of their faith.

Until then, the silence will persist. But it will no longer go unheard.

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Nasir Saeed is the director of CLAAS-UK, a non-denominational Christian organisation based in the UK and Pakistan