She said it was 9:30 at night when her husband tied her hands and feet and forced her on the ground. He then cut off her ears and hair. (Photo: BBC Persian)
Zarina’s ears were cut off by her husband two days back. She is 23-years-old. She was 13 when she got engaged to her cousin and married him 7 years later.
She is currently under treatment in the Abu Ali Sina Hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif. The doctors say that reattaching her ears is difficult in Afghanistan.
Amir Baryal, BBC’s correspondent in Mazar, went to meet Zarina in the hospital and talked to her about how the incident unfolded.
Zarina said that her husband had cut her ears in the Koshinda district of this province two days back and then fled. She said it was 9:30 at night when her husband tied her hands and feet and forced her on the ground. He then cut off her ears and hair.
Zarina is currently admitted in a hospital in Mazar-e-Sharif. (Photo: BBC Persian)
Doctors say that Zarina's ears have been completely cut off and there are less chances of fixing them in Afghanistan. (Photo: BBC Persian)
Zarina said that while cutting her ears, her husband had said to her that he was doing this so that she could not marry anyone after him. After that, he had fed her sleeping pills so she would stop screaming in pain, and dropped her at her uncle’s house and then fled.
Zarina said they had not loved each other from the very beginning. After a week of their wedding, he had left her and went to Iran. He had returned after three years and had not given her any financial support during this time. They had started living in their in-laws’ house after his return.
Zarina said that her husband had threatened her several times to commit suicide or run away or else he would cut off her ears.
The Balkh police said they are looking for the husband and said the act was due to domestic violence.
Zarina’s uncle told BBC that they cannot even afford to take her to Kabul. Zarina’s father had died and her mother is physically disabled. Her mother could not even come to the hospital to meet her.
This poor woman, lying in a corner of the hospital, demanded that her husband be arrested and prosecuted. She also requested the government to assist her in her treatment.
The local office of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission says that in the current solar year, 402 cases of violence have been recorded in the four northern provinces. Beating, hanging to death, murder, and self-immolation are several kinds of violence recorded.
The parliament passed an anti-harassment law for the protection of women and children, but has not passed the Elimination of Violence Against Women Law in these past several years.