Pakistan: Teenaged victim of rape and forced disrobing seeks justice
Source:
Dawn Six men have been arrested on a charge of raping a teenaged girl and forcing her to parade naked through her village near Ubaro because one of her relatives had eloped with a young woman from the men’s family.
Police said the girl's father had filed a complaint on Saturday in Ubaro town, 530km from Karachi, saying a group of 11 men had kidnapped his daughter, two of them raped her and the others then forced her to parade naked through Habib Labalo village.
The father told police the men were furious because the girl's cousin had eloped with and married a young woman from their family.
“Some villagers have said the girl was raped and her clothes torn off,” investigating police officer Aftab Farooqi told journalists. “They also claim she was forced to walk half naked in the village streets before some older woman covered her with a blanket,” he said.
The girl is in hospital in Ubaro, police said. Police are awaiting a medical report to confirm the 16-year-old had been raped.
Another police official said certain influential people were pressing the girl's father to drop his complaint.
The case brings to mind the attack on Mukhtaran Mai in 2002. She was gang-raped on the orders of a village council near Muzaffargarh as punishment because her brother had had a relationship with a young woman without the approval of her family.
Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad ordered an inquiry into the alleged rape on Jan 27, and police have arrested six of the 11 people accused. The National Assembly's committee on human rights and law has also ordered an inquiry.
Aftab Farooqi, the investigating officer of the case, said the six, including one of the main accused, had been remanded, and the police had been given 14 days to submit a report to the government and conclude investigations.
“We will see justice is done,” he said.
The father of the victim said he was being harassed by influential people to drop the case and reach a settlement through the village council (jirga).
“I want justice for my poor daughter. If I don't get that I will go to the Supreme Court and set myself on fire,” the man, a labourer, said weeping in the courtyard of his mud-walled one-room home.
Source: Dawn newspaper, Feb. 01 and Feb. 04, 2007.
“Some villagers have said the girl was raped and her clothes torn off,” investigating police officer Aftab Farooqi told journalists. “They also claim she was forced to walk half naked in the village streets before some older woman covered her with a blanket,” he said.
The girl is in hospital in Ubaro, police said. Police are awaiting a medical report to confirm the 16-year-old had been raped.
Another police official said certain influential people were pressing the girl's father to drop his complaint.
The case brings to mind the attack on Mukhtaran Mai in 2002. She was gang-raped on the orders of a village council near Muzaffargarh as punishment because her brother had had a relationship with a young woman without the approval of her family.
Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad ordered an inquiry into the alleged rape on Jan 27, and police have arrested six of the 11 people accused. The National Assembly's committee on human rights and law has also ordered an inquiry.
Aftab Farooqi, the investigating officer of the case, said the six, including one of the main accused, had been remanded, and the police had been given 14 days to submit a report to the government and conclude investigations.
“We will see justice is done,” he said.
The father of the victim said he was being harassed by influential people to drop the case and reach a settlement through the village council (jirga).
“I want justice for my poor daughter. If I don't get that I will go to the Supreme Court and set myself on fire,” the man, a labourer, said weeping in the courtyard of his mud-walled one-room home.
Source: Dawn newspaper, Feb. 01 and Feb. 04, 2007.
