No justice: Rape victim gives birth to stillborn

Says Khanpur police delayed registering her FIR.


Muhammad Sadaqat November 22, 2014

HARIPUR:


A teenager who is said to have been raped eight months ago disclosed she gave birth to a stillborn last week and demanded exemplary punishment for the rapists while talking to The Express Tribune on Saturday.


Mazram*, a 17-year-old from Choee Khanpur, told the police on Friday evening that about eight months back she was going to the fields to lay manure when two men raped her. Israr* and Younus* from the same village dragged her to an isolated spot and raped her one after the other.

“I cried for help but there was no one who could come to my rescue,” she told The Express Tribune over the telephone. She added after the two accused raped her one after the other, they threatened her of dire consequences if she ever disclosed her ordeal.

“I kept silent for the sake of my family’s honour and safety because the two men have links with influential people from the area,” said Mazram.

Months went by, said Mazram, and she had not realised that she had conceived during the horrific attack. When she was talking to the police on Friday, she told them a week ago she felt a sharp pain in her abdomen and asked her mother to take her to the hospital.

“My mother noticed something unusual and called a village midwife who confirmed I was pregnant,” said the rape victim.

Her ordeal did not end there; it was her family then who had more grief to dole out to the teenager. “My mother slapped me in the face first and then insisted on disclosing the name of the baby’s father.”

When Mazram told her mother about her ordeal, the shocked parent informed her husband and Mazram’s maternal uncles. The family took her to Khanpur Hospital where she gave birth to a stillborn.

The young girl said her parents lodged a complaint the very next day but the police delayed registering an FIR against the accused. However, after some social pressure, the police took the complainant for a medical checkup on Friday evening where the doctors confirmed the victim had been pregnant and had undergone normal delivery. Though it is not impossible for a woman to be unaware of her pregnancy for such a long time, such cases are extremely rare and occur only in very special circumstances. The Khanpur police registered criminal cases against the accused under sections 376 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and have arrested the accused. The police also denied having received a complaint prior to Friday.

In June, a police official allegedly raped a woman and threw her down from a hill-top in the district. The 22-year-old was taken to a hospital in critical condition for medical treatment. An FIR was registered against the police official, who is a resident of Swabi, but he managed to flee.

*Names Have Been Changed To Protect Identities

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23rd, 2014.

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