Lahore, Feb 26 (IANS) The police rescued a woman surrounded by a charged mob in Lahore’s Ichhra Bazaar on suspicion of blasphemy after she was seen wearing a printed shirt bearing Arabic script, media reports said on Monday.
The woman was saved by the law enforcers just a few minutes after being encircled and harassed by an angry crowd which wanted to punish her for allegedly wearing a dress that they thought was ‘blasphemous’ as it adorned ‘holy verses’ as the print, The News reported.
Being unaware of what was awaiting her, the woman was accompanied by her husband at the Ichhra Bazaar when some people tried to attack her, after which she sought refuge in a nearby shop.
Upon receiving information about the incident, the Pakistan Punjab Police — led by Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Syeda Shehrbano Naqvi, who is the sub-divisional police officer at Gulbarg Lahore — arrived at the scene to take the woman into their custody, saving her from the charged crowd.
According to the police, the woman, who declined to be named, said she had no intention to offend anyone’s sentiments. After verifying that it was a misunderstanding and the design on the shirt did not feature holy verses, she was released, the police said.
