MULTAN, Sept 23: A twelve-year-old girl was stripped and made to stand in public in a village near Shehr Sultan, Muzaffargarh, by her neighbours to teach her a lesson for the sin she never committed.

The motive in this case is identical to that of Meerwala — the suspicion of girl’s brother having illicit relations with a woman of the rival group.

Though the area people, union council nazim and Muzaffargarh district nazim confirmed that such an incident had taken place in Mauza Kapahi Kharwala on Friday, police said the stripping issue had been concocted by the girl’s family in a bid to neutralize an FIR registered against them.

According to reports reaching here, Momina was alone in her house when four men from her neighbour Hazoor Bakhash’s family took her to their house and tore her clothes apart.

Hearing girl’s cries, villagers gathered in the courtyard of Hazoor Bakhsh’s house but no-one dared to save the girl who stood naked. When her brothers Ghulam Nazuk and Mureed Hussain came to her rescue, they were beaten by armed men from Hazoor’s family .

The accused freed the girl after two hours when Kalu Khan, an elder of the Hazoor Bakhash tribe, told them that the “revenge was over.”

When Momina’s brothers visited Shaher Sultan police station, police pressed them to settle the matter at the village level. On their refusal police allegedly arrested them in a case lodged against them by a woman of the Hazoor Bukhash family.

SHO Qamarul Zaman told Dawn that story of Momina’s stripping by force had been concocted. He said that both the families had settled the matter and that a case lodged by Shamshad was also being withdrawn

Neverthless, he said, police were investigating the case and if the `humiliation’ of Momina was found to be true, he would not spare the guilty.

Allah Bakhsh, the father of the girl, said that police were pressing them to reconcile.

Abdul Qayyom Jatoi, Muzaffargarh district Nazim, said that police did register a case of trespassing against the accused when he visited the village on Saturday.

Jatoi said although he was the boss of district police (being the district nazim), he was not sure police would do any justice on his order. Elected from the ARD support, Jatoi said his close political companions were already facing police wrath on the direction of the Punjab chief minister.

Malik Jindwada, Beerbund union council nazim, said he had visited the village, that also fell in his electoral college, and talked to people who confirmed stripping of Momina before public.