MULTAN, July 16: Muzaffargarh police have held seven people responsible in the Meerwala gang-rape. Of them six have been nominated by the complaints while seventh is the Jatoi police ASI.

It may be added here that the police had arrested some 15 people in the rape and three in the Shakoor sodomy case.

Of the accused arrested in the gang-rape case, six were reported to have direct involvement while eight were earlier described as a part of the Mastois gathering that enforced the Panchayat verdict to rape the sister of 12-year-old Shakoor who was accused of having ‘illicit’ relations with an 18-year-old Mastoi girl.

The eight were: Aslam, Rasool Bakhsh, Allah Ditta, Khalil, Qasim, Ghulam Husain, Mazoor Bakhsh and Allah Diwaya. A police source said the eight had placed in the ‘column two’ of the challan.

Police enters the name of an accused in column two when it thinks that there is not enough evidence against him to prove him guilty or the complainant has not charged him directly. The coordinator of the Multan task force of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, advocate Rashid Rehman said putting the eight members of the gathering that enforced the Panchayat verdict into the column two would not be fair in this particular case.

He said it would be rather ridiculous to assume that only six people had enough terror on the victim family that kept them helpless. He said it was the collective gathering of the Mastois having 70 to 100 people that made the victim family powerless and enforced the Panchayat’s verdict. He said according to the HRCP findings at least 30 people among the Mastois gathering on June 22 were carrying arms.

He said the police did not try to widen the scope of their investigation beyond the first information report of the incident. He said all the people who were in the Mastois’ gathering had a role in the heinous crime for having a ‘common intention’ to give the Tattlas a lesson for bringing “disgrace” to the Mastoi clan.

The nominated accused in the gang-rape case are chief juror Faiz Bakhsh Mastoi, arbitrator Ramzan Pachaar, juror-turned-rapist Ghulam Farid and rapists Abdul Khaliq, Allah Ditta and Fayyaz Husain. According to the police investigation, only accused Abdul Khaliq was carrying a pistol. Accused assistant sub-inspector of the Jatoi police station, Muhammad Iqbal, has been charged under section 217 and 342 PPC for evasion of duty ordained upon him by law and keeping Shakoor in illegal confinement at the police station. “Had he executed his duty as demanded by the law the incident could have been averted,” a senior police official remarked.

When contacted, Dera Ghazi Khan range police DIG Asif Nawaz said that the challan had been completed and sent to the chief prosecutor of anti-terrorism courts in the Punjab to ascertain whether the case could be tried at an ATC.