ISLAMABAD — Over 20 members of a Pakistani village council have been arrested after ordering the “revenge rape” of a 16-year-old girl whose brother allegedly sexually assaulted another girl.
According to reports, a 12-year-old girl was cutting fodder for the cattle in the village of Muzaffarabad near Multan last month when she was raped by a 16-year-old boy.
The girl’s mother went to village officials—called the panchayat—about the matter, and it was decided that retribution should be the form of justice served.
According to the Pakistani publication Dawn, the mother of the teen who raped the girl offered one of her married daughters in exchange for her son’s crime—on the condition that no legal action would be taken against him. However, the 27 officials ordered that the victim’s brother rape the teenage assailant’s unmarried sister.
After the revenge rape was carried out, both families went to the police, accusing each other of sexual assault. Some of the council members were reportedly present as the punishment was carried out.
As both families were questioned about the matter, it was discovered that the village council had ordered the reciprocal rape. It was also found that members of the council were also extended family members of both families. They were subsequently taken into custody.
“All the village council elders who ordered the revenge rape have been arrested,” Multan City Police Officer Ahsan Younus told Reuters.
Sections 310A and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (giving a woman in marriage to settle a criminal liability and abetting a crime) have been filed against the more than 20 people who ordered the sexual assault.
Both girls who were raped, and their mothers, were sent to a women’s protection center.
Word of the situation has drawn outrage, including from Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, who has formed an investigative committee tasked with submitting a report on the matter.
“Pakistan’s judiciary has time and again declared these local councils to be unconstitutional and [have] no legal standing,” lawyer Asma Jahangir told The Guardian. “Such decisions and parallel justice should end now.”
Become a Christian News Network Supporter...
Dear Reader, has ChristianNews.net been of benefit and a blessing to you? For many years now, the Lord has seen fit to use this small news outlet as a strong influential resource in keeping Christians informed on current events from a Biblical worldview. With much compromise and many falsehoods in modern-day Christianity, we strive to bring you the news by keeping Christ and His word in focus. If you have benefited from our news coverage, please prayerfully consider becoming a Christian News supporter by clicking here to make a one-time or monthly donation to help keep the truth of God's word widely and freely published and distributed. May Christ continue to be exalted through this work!
