Suspected rapist paraded on donkey, made to drink urine by jirga in Khanpur

Jirga members arrested as police says such decisions cannot be taken in the presence of criminal justice system

HARIPUR: A man was publicly punished by a local jirga who ordered for his head to be shaved, while also parading him on a donkey and making him drink urine for allegedly attempting to rape a married woman in the remote village of Khanpur, police said.

“Two of the jirga members have been arrested while nine are still at large,” police said after the man filed an application with the Khanpur police station seeking legal action against the jirga members, including the husband of the woman.

Khanpur Circle DSP Ayaz Khan confirmed the incident, saying it is a violation of law as such decisions cannot be taken by locals in the presence of criminal justice system. Ayaz added the woman was also made to beat Shahid.



Twenty-two-year-old Shahid Aslam, a resident of Shah Kabul -- a bordering locality of Islamabad capital city -- was quoted by Khanpur police as saying that he was home on December 17 when at around 3 pm, some people called him out and asked him to attend a jirga that was underway.

“When I reached there, the jirga members asked me to plead guilty before them for charges of attempting to rape a married woman from my locality,” he told the police.

Aslam said all jirga members were from the woman's side and refused to carry out any investigations into the accident. "Without listening to my side of the story, the jirga handed down the punishment that was executed right there without further delay," he said.

“The jirga called a barber, who shaved off my head, mustache and eyebrows, in the presence of jirga members and dozens of villagers. They then blackened my face, made me wear a garland with shoes and I was made to roam around village streets on a donkey,” the complainant told the Khanpur police.

Aslam added that the jirga members were not satisfied with the humiliation as they then took the punishment a step further. The influential jirga asked the Bibi (alleged victim) to urinate in a bowl and send it to the venue of the jirga. "The jirga members then threw the woman's urine on my face and head which also seeped into my mouth,” police said quoting the complainant.



According to the investigative officer, the alleged rapist denied trying to rape Bibi who was in the fields for agriculture activity in the village a day before the jirga and termed the punishment as a result of his differences with some of the jirga members.

The police has registered a criminal case against 11 members of jirga including the woman's husband on December 24, under sections 342, 355, 380, 452 and 506 of the PPC. Two jirga members Muhammad Akhtar and Feroz Din have been arrested while nine other were still at large.

On 8 June 8 2011, a married woman was paraded naked in the village Neelor of Haripur on another jirga's orders. The woman was tried her for a crime her son allegedly committed.

Local human rights activists Nehmat Gul (Human Development Organisation), Qamar Hayat (SAHARA foundation), Ahsan Khan (Rural Development Project), and Irum Fatima (Pakistani Hoslamand Khwateen Network) condemned the parallel jirga justice system, saying it was used to settle scores against rivals.

They demanded a judicial inquiry into the case and legal action against the jirga members who took the law in their hands instead of referring it to police or the court.

The activists said exposing a man to such public humiliation was against the spirit of the Constitution of Pakistan and a mockery of the criminal justice system.