Gang rape & murder: Police refuse to arrest 18-year-old’s ‘killers’
Pparents said police wouldn’t arrest the four nominated suspects because of their political connections.
MULTAN:
An 18-year-old girl was kidnapped, gang raped and murdered on Friday.
According to residents, Chak-79 WB Vehari resident, 18-year-old Monah was abducted from outside her home on Thursday afternoon as she was returning from the house of one of her relatives in the district. Police officials have refused to register a case.
Monah’s father Zulfiqar told reporters that his daughter had been kidnapped by Shahid, Arif, Bilal and Khalid who live in the rural vicinity of Basti Manser, Village 70-WB. According to Monah’s mother Sakina, the four men took her outside the village and gang raped her in a field before killing her by slitting her throat. “The body bore clear marks of torture and the girl’s head had been cut off,” said Nishtar Hospital Dr Imran Muhammad.“We smelled something rotting in the well near the fields and then chanced upon the body,” said villager Mubeen. “The body had been mutilated and the smell was overwhelming. I immediately called the police,” he said.
Sadar Police Station House Officer (SHO) Akhtar Dogar arrested all the accused but then released them. “He told me he didn’t have enough evidence to hold them even though the doctors released a medical report and conducted tests,” Zulfiqar said. “The police lodged an initial FIR on the victim’s fathers complaint but we didn’t have enough evidence to hold the men so we let them go,” Dogar said. Locals in the area protested against the police after the accused were released. “Everyone knows that the police took a heavy bribe from these men. They are landlords and can afford to pay them off. I am a poor man but I will not settle,” said Zulfiqar. The post mortem report of the victim has been sent to Multan and Lahore and results have confirmed that Monah was gang raped.
“I have still ordered a detailed report to confirm DNA samples,” said medical officer (MO) Dr Ghazala Kanwal at the Vehari DHQ hospital. Protesters said that police officials had initially arrested Arif and Bilal after filing an FIR but released them after wards. “Then they arrested three innocent people and tried to get me to sign that they had murdered my daughter. I refused to implicate them and then they let everyone go,” Zulfiqar said.
Another accused, Shahid, is the nephew of the former mayor of the district Malik Zahid and protesters said that Zahid and his family had put pressure on the police“They tried to get me to take the case back and negotiate but I want justice,” Zulfiqar said. The protesters have appealed to the chief minister IG Punjab Javed Iqbal to take notice in this case. SHO Dogar told The Express Tribune that the police were investigating the case in accordance with the law and would arrest the accused if they were found guilty.
The name of the victim and her family have been changed to protect her identity
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2011.
An 18-year-old girl was kidnapped, gang raped and murdered on Friday.
According to residents, Chak-79 WB Vehari resident, 18-year-old Monah was abducted from outside her home on Thursday afternoon as she was returning from the house of one of her relatives in the district. Police officials have refused to register a case.
Monah’s father Zulfiqar told reporters that his daughter had been kidnapped by Shahid, Arif, Bilal and Khalid who live in the rural vicinity of Basti Manser, Village 70-WB. According to Monah’s mother Sakina, the four men took her outside the village and gang raped her in a field before killing her by slitting her throat. “The body bore clear marks of torture and the girl’s head had been cut off,” said Nishtar Hospital Dr Imran Muhammad.“We smelled something rotting in the well near the fields and then chanced upon the body,” said villager Mubeen. “The body had been mutilated and the smell was overwhelming. I immediately called the police,” he said.
Sadar Police Station House Officer (SHO) Akhtar Dogar arrested all the accused but then released them. “He told me he didn’t have enough evidence to hold them even though the doctors released a medical report and conducted tests,” Zulfiqar said. “The police lodged an initial FIR on the victim’s fathers complaint but we didn’t have enough evidence to hold the men so we let them go,” Dogar said. Locals in the area protested against the police after the accused were released. “Everyone knows that the police took a heavy bribe from these men. They are landlords and can afford to pay them off. I am a poor man but I will not settle,” said Zulfiqar. The post mortem report of the victim has been sent to Multan and Lahore and results have confirmed that Monah was gang raped.
“I have still ordered a detailed report to confirm DNA samples,” said medical officer (MO) Dr Ghazala Kanwal at the Vehari DHQ hospital. Protesters said that police officials had initially arrested Arif and Bilal after filing an FIR but released them after wards. “Then they arrested three innocent people and tried to get me to sign that they had murdered my daughter. I refused to implicate them and then they let everyone go,” Zulfiqar said.
Another accused, Shahid, is the nephew of the former mayor of the district Malik Zahid and protesters said that Zahid and his family had put pressure on the police“They tried to get me to take the case back and negotiate but I want justice,” Zulfiqar said. The protesters have appealed to the chief minister IG Punjab Javed Iqbal to take notice in this case. SHO Dogar told The Express Tribune that the police were investigating the case in accordance with the law and would arrest the accused if they were found guilty.
The name of the victim and her family have been changed to protect her identity
Published in The Express Tribune, October 15th, 2011.