Alleged victim accuses K-P deputy speaker’s brother, accomplice of intimidation. PHOTO: FILE
PESHAWAR:
Farahnaz*, who had earlier accused the brother of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s (K-P) deputy assembly speaker of rape, alleged her family is being pressured to withdraw the case.
From Shakar Darra, Farahnaz had accused Safdar Qureshi, deputy speaker Imtiaz Qureshi’s brother, and his cousin Asmatullah Qureshi of raping her in her own house on May 6 while the rest of Farahnaz’s family was out working the fields.
The alleged victim spoke to the media at the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday. “My father and I will take our own lives if justice is not delivered,” said Farahnaz. “The accused belong to an influential family in the area and keep forcing us to withdraw the rape case,” she added.
According to her father Akbar, when Farahnaz was being taken to the hospital for a medical check-up, they were stopped on the way on some pretext. The medical report was, therefore, received later and the results were also changed at the behest of the alleged rapists, accused the victim’s father.
“The accused threaten us saying they are part of the provincial government and will not lose this case. They said it would be ‘good’ for the family to keep a distance from the matter at hand,” shared the father.
Farahnaz has asked the high court chief justice to help her get justice as she was first violated and as a result, her husband Zulfiqar has distanced himself from her.
Intimidation
On May 10, Farahnaz’s mother Tajwar told journalists in Kohat that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s local leader and deputy speaker were threatening her son-in-law to not appear before the court against Imtiaz’s brother and cousin. Tajwar said even though Zulfiqar had initially gone with her daughter, the alleged victim, to file the case at the Shakar Darra police station, he later started pressuring her to withdraw it.
“He told his wife he had been threatened by the accused and his brother, the deputy speaker,” claimed Tajwar.
She had also accused her son-in-law of striking a lucrative deal with the deputy speaker; “That is why he is trying to stop my daughter from appearing before the court.”
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the accused approached PHC for bail. The victim told the court she wanted to hire a lawyer to defend her in the case as the accused have approached the high court for bail.
Justice Nisar Hussain Khan then adjourned the hearing till the next case date.
A lower court had previously dismissed the bail application of the accused after which they approached the high court.
According to the FIR dated May 7, Safdar and Asmatullah entered the house of the victim at around 9:30am on May 6 when she was alone at home and allegedly raped her.
The police registered an FIR under sections 376 (rape), 452 (trespass with the intent to hurt, assault or wrongful restraint) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860.
*Name has been changed to protect identity
Published in The Express Tribune, June 6th, 2014.
COMMENTS (4)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
so where is imran khan's outrage? how will he lead his party in this matter?
So much for 'Naya Pakistan'
There's a mixed feeling about PTI. Firstly, it was the deputy speaker of the KP assembly who tried to pressure her but on the other hand the Police still registered an FIR. So the police is free, but the law makers of PTI are still corrupt, either by money or by this.
KP govt must take action on this. CM must set this as an example.