Mai will appeal against SC decision

Mukhtaran Mai says she will challenge the Supreme Court decision to dismiss her appeal.


Afp April 25, 2011

MEERWALA:


Rape victim Mukhtaran Mai said on Sunday that she would challenge the Supreme Court decision to dismiss her appeal against the early release of five men convicted of abusing her.


“I have decided, after consulting my friends and family, to file a review petition in the Supreme Court,” 40-year-old Mai told AFP at her home in Meerwala, 120 kilometres south-west of Multan.

Mukhtaran Mai, now 40, was gang raped in June 2002 on the orders of a village Panchayat as a punishment after her 12-year-old brother was wrongly accused of having illicit relations with a woman from a rival clan.

The court last week dismissed Mai’s appeal against the acquittal of five men she accused of attacking her.

A local anti-terrorism court (ATC) had sentenced six accused men to death, but Lahore High Court acquitted five of them in March 2005, and commuted the sentence for the main accused, Abdul Khaliq, to life imprisonment.

The Supreme Court heard separate appeals and ordered the release of five of those arrested, upholding only the life sentence given to Khaliq.

Mai’s case garnered much attention in the West as an example of oppression suffered by Pakistan’s women.

Human Rights Watch on Friday called on Pakistan’s government to petition the court to review the case and asked authorities to protect Mai.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25th, 2011.

Correction: April 25

Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article used 'he', instead of 'she' to refer to Mukhtaran Mai. The error has been corrected.

COMMENTS (19)

Pious Commander | 12 years ago | Reply There is no "Appeal" against a Supreme Court Judgement (not "verdict"). A review is on technical grounds, an error on the face of the record, not on merits nor on interpretation of law. As for the decision itself, the Court acted properly; if the prosecution has not made out its case, the Court cannot convict; that is why the LHC vacated the earlier convictions and why the SC has affirmed the same. Note that the main accused was in fact convicted, and has been sent down for life. It is the duty of the state to prove a persons guilt not for him to prove his innocence. I don't know what impact it will have on womens rights, but this Judgement in holding the State to the highest level of proof for even the most unpopular and villified of accused has advanced Human Rights far,.
Naveed Javed | 12 years ago | Reply Shame on the biased justice system!
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