CJP takes suo motu notice of panchayat ordered ‘revenge rape’ case

MULTAN: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar has taken suo motu notice of the Multan panchayat ‘revenge rape’ case, it has been reported.  The CJP has also sought a case report from the Punjab inspector general of police.

Moreover, the police today has claimed to have arrested the main suspects in the case including the rapist Ishfaque and the one who gave the order – Haq Nawaz along with the girl’s brother Umer Wada and Saeed Numberdar.

The police on Wednesday had announced the arrest of 10 members of a panchayat (local council), including its leader after a shocking incident took place here in Multan when the accused persons ordered the rape of a 16-year-old girl as ‘punishment’ for a rape allegedly committed by her brother.

According to the police, a man had complained to the panchayat that his 12-year-old sister had been raped by their cousin. Upon this, the panchayat ordered the complainant to rape the 16-year-old sister of the accused in revenge. A search was under way for the remaining men including the main accused, who had managed to flee the scene following the incident.

SHO Malik Rashid said that the FIR for both the cases had been registered at the Women Crisis Centre. As this was an incident between relatives, the SHO questioned the authority of the panchayat. “Who ordered them to order such a crime,” he said.

Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had also taken notice of the incident and sought a report from the capital city police officer (CCPO) of Multan.

He had also directed that justice should be provided to the victim family. CCPO Ahsan Younis said a search was under way to arrest the remaining accused. He said that the case has been registered against the accused on the complaint of a senior police official.

According to the CCPO, the second incident was not reported to the police. “When the first FIR was lodged and investigated, we came to know that there was more to the case which was being hidden. When we investigated further and chased the accused for the last 2-3 days, the entire incident was unearthed,” he said.