Four years after the infamous case of stripping of a girl in the presence of the entire village in Khyber-Pakthunkhwa (K-P)’s Dera Ismail Khan district, the victim family and the accused party have reached reconciliation.
A few days ago a local court had ordered the release of the nine accused who had been behind bars for three years after both the parties reached a settlement.
Local residents told The Express Tribune that dozens of people along with the nine accused and a bull (to be presented as a gift) reached the residence of Sharifa Bibi and met her brother Sajid. They asked for forgiveness of the victim’s family and the family forgave them as per the local Jirga tradition.
The notorious incident took place in November 2017 when Sharifa Bibi was stripped and paraded in the village to make her an example for others after a verbal fight.
All the accused had managed to escape after committing the crime and police was unable to arrest the main accused in the case for several years. One and a half years ago he surrendered to local police suddenly when all efforts to arrest him had failed.
Civil society and the general public had questioned the writ of the government and police in the area after the notorious incident and blamed some local politicians were supporting the accused actively.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 16th, 2021.
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