VEHARI, July 3: The family of Mailsi’s gang rape victim has threatened self-immolation if they did not get justice.

Talking to Dawn, the girl’s father said some influential people of the Mailsi were forcing him to withdraw the case against the accused.

He said that the police did not provide any protection to the family. Some influential of the area offered protection and financial help but he refused.

Five men had kidnapped the girl from near the Government Girls Degree College on the morning of June 20 last.

The kidnappers subjected her to gang rape for four days and planned to kill her. But one of the kidnappers informed the family of the girl who approached police for the recovery of the girl.

Police recovered the girl from the Mochipura farm house of a mill owner and arrested Abdul Salam Qureshi, Altaf Hussain, Saleem Bhatti and Tufail Bhatti. Noor Samad, a police volunteer, is still at large.

Initial medical examination confirmed that the girl was gang-raped.

Residents of Mauza Mochipura say Abdul Salam Qureshi owns an oil mills and has close relations with Khichi family. They alleged that Abdul Salam had been involved in around half a dozen rape cases.

They said Abdul Salam kidnapped and gang raped the girl when her parents rejected his proposal.

Representatives of local trade and women bodies alleged that at present, the accused were on judicial remand. The police were providing them all facilities in the jail, they alleged.

They said city police SHO Iqbal Bhatti earlier refused to register a case. Later, he registered the case but did not incorporate the sections relevant to the offence of gang rape in the FIR “because accused Saleem Bhatti and Tufail Bhatti are his relatives and Abdul Salam a close friend.”

Vehari DPO Javed Husain Shah said that efforts were under way to submit chargesheet against the accused in the court as soon as possible.

The victim’s family would be provided protection, he said, and rejected the HRCP report indicating that police did not incorporate sections relevant to the offence of gang rape in the case.

It was learnt that the Punjab chief minister has sought a detailed report about the case. The DPO said that he had sent a report about the case to the high-ups.