Multan: Belying claims by the government regarding the rule of law in the country, a village council (panchayat) has ordered the rape of a minor girl in Western Punjab.
According to reports, the incident took place in the vicinity of Muzaffarabad Police Station, where a 17-year-old girl was ordered raped in retaliation for a similar act allegedly committed by her brother on July 16.
Station House Officer (SHO) Malik Arshad said the victim’s brother had been accused of raping a girl who had gone to cut grass.
She told her family that the accused had molested her.
A panchayat was convened, consisting of almost 40 people, most of them influential individuals in the area.
The panchayat announced that the sister of the accused would be handed over to the brother of the alleged victim in retaliation of the heinous act.
A case has been registered with the women police station.
Local police at Muzaffarabad police station conducted a raid and arrested ten people, while a hunt was on for more suspects.
Meanwhile another FIR would be lodged with Muzaffarabad Police Station while consultation would be made with the legal department, officials said.
This is not the first incident of its kind in Punjab.
Several similar incidents cases have been reported in the media while most remain unreported due to social stigma associated with such cases.
A case of the same nature had also been reported in January 2014 in Muzaffar Garh where Panchayat gave orders for a 40-year-old woman to be raped.
