Tharparkar SSP’s probe: Police confirm Thar gang rape was an act of vengeance

Relatives of the gang rape victim are being charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl of the rival group.

HYDERABAD:

After the Supreme Court’s suo motu notice, the police widened it investigations to the native village of the alleged characters of a Tharparkar gang rape case only to confirm the reports that the incident was a tit-for-tat act of vengeance. 

A few relatives of the prime victim of the gang rape, M, are being charged with sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl, L, who is a daughter of one of the eight accused in the FIR, Kalu Bheel. The police have also arrested M’s father-in-law Chaitain Bheel and a relative Kalu Bheel. Two other prime suspects, Khanu Bheel and Aambo Bheel, have escaped, however.



On September 3, M was allegedly subjected to rape in front of her husband Tilu Bheel and her two children. According to the FIR, five men including Kalu Bheel, Pribhu Bheel, Karto Bheel, Hero Bheel and Adva Bheel raped her while Maluko Bheel, Bhugro Bheel and Patho Bheel stood guard on her husband and children.

Following the incident, the police initially arrested three of the eight suspects. The remaining five were also apprehended later as Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took suo motu notice of the case three days ago.

The CJ had ordered Tharparkar’s Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) Abid Ali Qaimkhani to investigate into the matter and submit his report to the court. Qaimkhani on Monday visited village Bapraryo of Chachro Tehsil, where the incident happened and met families of both the victims and the accused. According to the local sources, the SSP was shown the video of L’s rape recorded by Khanu Bheel and Aambo Bheel.



They told the SSP that they kept silent after the incident, which happened four months ago, to prevent their girl from the stigma. But the video was circulated through mobile sharing by Khanu and Aambo which made them take revenge. However, all the arrested suspects claim that they only beat M and her husband and that no rape took place.

Dr Padma Kumari, who did M’s medical examination at Civil Hopistal Mithi, had told local reporters that there were no apparent marks of rape. However, M’s blood and cloth samples had been sent for chemical examination to a lab in Karachi, she added. Dr Kumari told The Express Tribune that she will receive the medical report by September 17.

SSP Qaimkhani could not be contacted for his version. However, Chachro’s SHO Ghulam Mustafa Kachelo confirmed that two of M’s relatives had been arrested and the police were looking for two others. The parents of L, though, have not yet lodged a case against the rape of their daughter and sharing of its video.

Rape in Matiari

An elderly person accused of raping a six-year old girl was sent to jail on a judicial remand on Monday after his arrest late last night.

The alleged incident took place on Friday but the police lodged an FIR only after a three-day protest by the family. The girl’s father, Allah Dito Khokhar, complained in the FIR that Imamdin Hakro, 65, who ran a shop, took his daughter to his home and raped her. He later left the girl outside her house in unconscious state.

Dr Nasreen Tahir Samo, who examined the girl, has confirmed rape in her initial report. “The samples of her blood and clothes have been sent for lab test,” she said, adding that her health condition was stable but that she appeared traumatised.

The names of the victims have been changed to protect their identities.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 17^th, 2013.