Posted on 07/06/2002 1:02:29 AM PDT by kattracks
July 6— MUZAFFARGARH, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani police said on Saturday they had arrested one of their own officers for failing to prevent a woman from being gang-raped by four men on the order of a village jury.
"We have arrested Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Muhammad Iqbal and charged him with criminal negligence for failing to follow the procedure," Muzaffargarh's Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Farman Ali told Reuters.
Mukhtaran Mai says she was raped by four men on the order of a village jury or panchayhat because her brother, Abdul Shakoor, had a love affair with the girl of a higher class tribe. Police say she is 30 years old.
The incident in a remote village in the central province of Punjab on June 22 has sparked a national outcry.
Earlier, the woman's brother Shakoor had also been kidnapped by the Mastoi tribe. A police team led by Iqbal freed him but failed to arrest the tribesmen, who later took their revenge on his sister, the SSP said.
"It's a criminal negligence," Ali said. "If the ASI had recovered the kidnapped boy, he should have proceeded against the accused tribesmen according to the law. Now he will also be proceeded against."
Mai told Reuters Television on Friday she begged for mercy but none of the hundreds of people around helped her as four men dragged her to a room and gang-raped her.
Police arrested one of the four alleged rapists on Friday and said they were hunting for three others. The government has given Mai a check for 500,000 rupees ($8,200).
Authorities say another young girl of the same area committed suicide a few days ago after being raped.
A report issued by the respected Human Rights Commission of Pakistan estimates a woman is raped every two hours in Pakistan, but says most sexual assaults go unreported because of the social stigma and the impossibility of proving the charges.
In populous Punjab province, a woman is raped every six hours and a woman gang-raped every fourth day, yet only 321 rape cases were reported to police last year, it said.
Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved.
Religion of Peace I said. Just keep saying it and someday you might believe it. Then, a Muslim cutthroat will kill you!
But with deep regret when we open the book of our Civil Code in 1998 we see it is said the marriage age in Iran is 9 lunar years for girls and 15 lunar years for boys. Apart the point that 9 lunar years is a low age for marriage the problem does not stop there. Because the same law says the father or the paternal ancestor has the right to give a girl in marriage before the age of puberty, is less than 9 years of age. In this way a father or a paternal ancestor has the right to give a one-month girl in marriage.-Shirin Ebadi was among the first women in Iran who sat in the seat of judgment. And she was the first woman to become the president of a court in the country. She has written a number of books such as "History of Human Right Documents in Iran," "The Rights of Children", "The Rights of Refugees" and "Tradition and Modernism in the Iranian Law."
moslems, following the teachings and practices of their founder, ol' 'hammed - the pedophile who "married" a nine year old girl.
They would have us believe that they keep women covered under veils and other nonsense because they have such respect for them...but isn't the real reason to hide the broken noses, blackened eyes, and other evidence of wife beating?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.