A woman who claimed to have been subjected to sexual exploitation, including gang rape, and was now being blackmailed, invited the attention of the Supreme Court on Friday to the heinous crimes committed also by members of law-enforcement agencies.
The woman from Khanpur Bagga Sher village of Muzaffargarh district invoked the jurisdiction of the apex court through her counsel Zulfikar Ahmad Bhutta under enforcement of fundamental rights, claiming that by doing so she intended to save a number of women who become victims of similar exploitation because of broken and ineffective law-enforcement mechanism in the country.
The petition requested the Supreme Court to direct the Punjab chief secretary and the inspector general of police to submit complete record of cases or FIRs in which a number of girls had been victimised through discreet snapping of indecent pictures or videos to blackmail them for sexual favours.
It also requested the court to order the high-ups to carry out investigations and prosecute the people involved in such heinous crimes and to ensure registration of similar cases by police under section 354-A of the PPC. The section deals with assaulting a woman or using criminal force against her and stripping her clothes and suggests life imprisonment as a sentence.
The petitioner also attached a copy of FIR she had registered in the Model City police station, Muzaffargarh, under sections 365B (kidnapping or inducing or compelling a woman for marriage), 376 (punishment under rape), 380 (theft) and 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The accused also introduced her on mobile phone to someone who claimed to be Muzaffargarh DPO. He also threatened her with dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone.
According to the FIR, she was subjected to rape for eight months during which she and her family were threatened by the local police that they would be implicated in fake and forged cases. They even threatened to kill her on March 26 and got her signatures on a blank nikah form so that she could be exploited in future also.
The complainant stated that she had revealed the ordeal that she had undergone to save other women who were being subjected to similar treatment. She also threatened in the FIR that if she was denied justice, she would commit self-immolation outside the office of the Muzaffargarh District Police Office.