Girl was raped on panchayat's order, Multan CPO tells SC

ISLAMABAD: Multan City Police Officer (CPO) Tuesday submitted the report of gruesome incident involving ‘revenge rape’ in the Supreme Court, which confirms that the 17-year-old girl was raped on panchayat’s orders. 

It has also been claimed in the report that all 29 suspects including the prime culprit have been arrested. The report states that the mother of victim girl submitted an application on July 20, and the case was lodged the same day. 

The apex court has further been told that three cases have been filed regarding the incident, and challan (charge-sheet) will be entered within seven days. Police have said further investigation is under way. 

It is worth mentioning that on July 16, a 12-year-old girl was allegedly raped by Umer Wada. A panchayat headed by Ameen and Saeed patwari was held to declare the verdict in the incident. The panchayat members directed the victim’s brother Ashfaque to avenge the incident while raping Wada’s 17-year-old sister. On July 18, Ashfaque raped her while complying with the council’s orders. The victim’s family had registered a case against Wada in women police centre. However, when the second victim’s parents came to know of the incident they also filed a case against Ashfaque. The police came into action after receiving information of panchayat’s decision and arrested the council head Ameen and several others.

The incident was also reported by international media, and the chief minister sprang into action, announcing the formation of an inquiry committee. He later visited Multan to meet the victims and their families. Supreme Court Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had taken suo motu notice of the case and had summoned an instant report in this regard from Punjab IG.

The suspects include the alleged rapist Ashfaque and the Panchayat leader who gave the order - Haq Nawaz, along with the girl’s brothers Umer Wada and Saeed numberdar. The girl was reportedly raped in front of the family to serve as a form of unishment.