Revenge tactics: Family faces death threats after accusing cleric of molesting 10-year-old

Malik said the clan attacked his family. He said they swore they would kill him.

KOT SABZAL:

A man has been facing death threats for accusing an influential cleric for having molested his ten-year-old son.

According to police officials, Bandhi village Busti Duda Malik resident Javed Malik recently told the police that Maulvi Imdadullah Leghari had raped his ten-year-old son Shahrukh.

“Ever since I told the police I have been receiving death threats. The cleric belongs to an influential family and they have even sent men to seize my land but the police drove them out,” Malik said.

Malik said that there was immense pressure on him from Legahri’s family to take back the case. “They have threatened me with everything they could think of. They said they would kill my son and abduct my wife and daughter and they have already tried to turn us out of our own house,” Malik added.

“We registered the case when he told us about the incident and ordered a rape kit for the boy,” said Kot Sabzal Station House Officer (SHO) Rehmat Qazim. “We kept Malik and his son at the police station for security but the moment he returned home he began to tell us that he was no longer safe,” Qazim added.

On Tuesday afternoon, 17 men stormed into Malik’s house and held his family hostage trying to take over his land. “I called the police before they came in because they had called me earlier. Luckily, they turned them out but they are still threatening me,” he said.

Police officials said that they were searching for the accused but many of the men had escaped. “This is all propaganda against our family. Imdadullah is a respectable cleric and they are trying to ruin his reputation,” said Shahram Leghari, a villager.

Busti Duda Malik residents said that they were aware of the incident and that Malik had been struggling to get the case registered. “At first no one even wanted to register a case against the Leghari clan but the police took the case after three weeks of Malik’s pleading with them,” said Sughran Bibi, a neighbour. “I wrote him a report stating that the boy had been raped. Malik had the tests done the next day and I accompanied him to the police station,” DHQ Hospital doctor Muhammad Ashraf said.  Javed Malik and his family have been protesting against the Leghari clan. He said that the maulvi’s family members Abdul Aziz and Murasaleen Leghari were now threatening to kill his entire family. He said he had bought ten acres of land from the Leghari clan and they had tried to seize his land. “They kept telling me that they had sold the land and they could take it back whenever they wished. They said the police would never dare say anything to them,” Malik said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2011.