Police in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province say they have rescued a 54-year-old French woman and her children from a house in the Bara area of Khyber district and registered a case against her husband on charges of domestic violence and unlawful confinement.
District Police Officer (DPO) Khyber Waqar Ahmed told BBC that the French woman, identified as Sylvia Yasmina, was not allowed to leave her husband’s house in Bara. However, one of her sons managed to seize an opportunity to step outside and inform the local police, after which immediate legal action was taken.
According to the DPO, the woman and her children were shifted to a women’s crisis center (Darul Aman) in Peshawar. He added that following the registration of the case on the woman’s complaint, her husband was arrested.
DPO Waqar Ahmed further said that after their recovery, the woman and her children are now free citizens. Since they hold French passports, they are allowed to travel wherever they wish. He added that all legal requirements were completed and the woman and children were presented before a court, while the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed the French embassy about the situation.
He also said that after the rescue, the woman requested police to register a case against her husband, which led to an FIR being filed. In her statement, she said she had been living in the Khyber district since 2014 and had faced severe difficulties during this period.
According to the FIR, she alleged that her husband failed to fulfill his responsibilities as a spouse and father and subjected her and the children to continuous physical and mental abuse. She further claimed that over the years, they were regularly beaten, leaving visible marks on her body and face. She described her husband as an “extremely violent person” and requested criminal proceedings against him.
Police in Bara said that no lawyer representing the husband has contacted them so far. The FIR has been registered under sections related to assault and causing injury, unlawful confinement, criminal intimidation, and the Domestic Violence Protection Act.
How was the French woman found in Bara?
A senior official involved in the investigation said the woman was recovered from a dilapidated room in a house in Bara. He added that she had no means of communication with the outside world, including a mobile phone.
He said the condition of the room was extremely poor, indicating that the woman and her children had been kept in harsh circumstances. Police also released a video showing the rescue, in which she is seen hurriedly gathering her belongings as officers arrive, thanking them afterward.
Footage provided by police shows her being rescued from a deteriorated mud-built room containing only four to five beds.
According to a police officer, during initial questioning the woman said she had married her husband in 2003 in Australia.
The officer said her husband was illegally residing in Australia at the time, where he met the French woman. After a period of interaction, they married in 2003 in Australia. The couple later had two elder children there.
After the birth of the two children, the family reportedly traveled twice to Pakistan and stayed for some time before returning to Australia. During this period, the woman also financially supported her husband.
Investigators said the family returned to Pakistan again in 2014 with their two elder children, after which, according to her allegations, she was effectively held in confinement.
The DPO confirmed that she was not allowed to leave the house in Bara. A senior police official added that she was not permitted to meet anyone, and the children’s education was discontinued. Three more children were later born in Pakistan and were not enrolled in school.
The official said the woman alleged that her husband subjected both her and the children—especially the daughters—to violence and strict control.
In her initial statement, she said: “I felt my future was already destroyed, and my children’s future would also be ruined. I was looking for an opportunity, and I finally got it through the police. Now I will return to France with my children.”