November 14, 2006	Tuesday	Shawwal 21, 1427

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LAHORE, Nov 13: A woman of Kabirwala who had contracted court marriage and was allegedly kidnapped and raped by an influential person, has sought police protection as the couple was receiving life threats from the rapist who is said to be supported by the victim’s parents.

Musarrat Nazir, 21, told Dawn that her ordeal started when she contracted court marriage with Syed Sajjad Hussain Shah on July 31, 2006, without her father’s consent.

She said that four months after the marriage her parents called her to Kabirwala on Oct 11 on the pretext of attending the marriage ceremony of her brother.

“They (parents) actually wanted me to seek divorce from my husband,” she said, and added: “I was also unaware of my father’s (Subedar Nazeer Ahmed (retired)) move, who had involved one Rana Idrees to intervene into the matter. He (Idrees) first picked me from the bus stand and later raped me at his outhouse,” she alleged.

After subjecting Musarrat to rape and getting some plain papers signed by her, Idrees released her from his outhouse seeking an assurance that she would never contact her husband again.

However, Musarrat, undeterred by the threats hurled by Idrees, called her husband from Lahore and narrated her plight to him.

The couple, taking a courageous step, decided to make the matter public and went to Kohna police station of Kabirwala tehsil to get a rape case registered against Idrees.

The police, however, refused to register the FIR, they said.

On Oct 13, the couple staged a protest in front of the Governor’s House and latter moved to Islamabad on Oct 18 to seek justice from the Supreme Court.

On the intervention of the chief justice of Pakistan, a case was registered against Idrees and his accomplices on Oct 28 and Khanewal DPO was directed to arrest the accused.

The couple said the police did not arrest the accused in spite of the SC orders to this effect. “Now the accused were hurling life threats to us,” they said.

“Idrees’s men have traced out our rented residence in Lahore, and now we keep our doors locked to save our lives,” they said

They appealed to the Punjab governor and chief minister to provide them police cover so that they could pursue their case against the ‘criminals’.

Meanwhile, Khanewal DPO Shahid Habib said the police had registered the case against the culprits on the direction of the SC and the investigation process was in progress.

He said the police could not arrest the accused as medical examination report of the alleged victim was yet to be received.

“We can’t arrest the accused merely on allegations and any action will be taken following the medical report and the DNA test,” he said.

However, the DPO pledged security for the couple, saying that they did not visited him even once.

Musarrat’s parents had stated before the SC that their daughter had leveled false allegations against the accused, he said without explaining what legal status the (parents’) statement had when the complainant was an adult.