A rape victim’s struggle for justice

GUJRANWALA: A woman who was allegedly raped by a local landlord has been trying to file a police report for ten days. The woman’s husband told reporters that one of the local village landlords Afzaal Sheikh broke into his house and raped his wife. He said that he and his wife had been trying to register a case with the local police for the past ten days but the police refused to take the case.

The woman said that she already had a medical certificate proving that she had been sexually assaulted but the police still refused to take the case seriously.

“It was only after we contacted the press and went with reporters to the police station that they finally registered the case against the landlord,” she said.

The woman told reporters that she and her husband had visited several police stations, including those in Toba Tek Singh and Faisalabad but police officials had not yet started an investigation.

Thaana Nawan SHO Saboor Ali told the couple that he was not ‘responsible for catching the accused in the case’ and police officials at the Toba Tek Singh station told them the accused had escaped and was in Karachi.

“They simply don’t want to pursue the case,” her husband said, adding that he and his wife had appealed to the Punjab chief minister to intervene on their behalf.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2010.