Woman raped on Panchayat orders commits suicide

GUJRAT: A woman who self-immolated after being raped passed away at the Mayo Hospital in Lahore.

A Panchayat in Gujrat asked a man whose minor daughter had been raped to rape the daughter of the rapist. The rapist who had raped the minor girl had served a prison sentence that a local court had given him.  

The victim who self-immolated was married and pregnant. In a statement she gave to the police on her death bed, the woman said she was raped on the orders of a Panchayat.

Her husband refused to register a case against the perpetrators. “I don’t want to register a case. Only Allah will give me justice,” he said, in footage available with Geo News.

Police claimed that the case had many different aspects. DPO Sohail Zafar Chatta said that the incident of rape occurred five months ago in the Bhimber area, in Azad Kashmir. He said when the victims’ parents were told that her daughter had alleged that her father had raped a minor they refused the allegation saying that their daughter was mentally unstable.

He added that the victim’s husband had also claimed that his wife was mentally unstable.

Eleven members of the Panchayat have been detained for interrogation, police said.

Rape survivor Mukhtaran Mai said that such incidents will continue until justice is given to the victims. To rape victims she said, “How many of you will burn yourself to death?

“It is easy to kill yourself, but it is very difficult to live and fight for justice.”

Mukhtaran Mai added that the treatment meted out to rape victims and their families was the reason why cases against perpetrators are not registered.

The parliament in October made amendments to the rape law which make DNA test for victims mandatory, penalise the police for delaying investigation, and allow victims to testify in court through an in-camera session.