UMERKOT, Aug 31. A peasant woman was gang-raped by three men in the presence of her husband and children in Eight-Mile Hiral village within the jurisdiction of the Ghulam Nabi police station, some 48 kilometres from here, early Saturday morning.

Earlier the family was robbed of cash and valuables by the criminals.

The police reportedly refused to register a case of the incident.

According to Par Khan Kolhi of Eight-Mile Hiral, he, his wife and their four children were sleeping in the home when a little after midnight three armed men barged into his home, held them at gunpoint and robbed them of Rs50,000 (earned from the sale of his landlord’s cotton crop) and gold and silver ornaments. He said he knew one of the men, a resident of the same area. He added that when he called the suspect by name, he told both his co-accused to hold him and rape his wife. Later the three raped his wife in the presence of the man and their children and fled.

According to him, he soon went to his landlord, Muhammad Hussain, and informed him about the incident. Later he with other area people traced the footprints of one of the suspects and reached his home, but he had escaped from there. His father, however, assured them that he would produce him before the police.

He further said that he with his landlord reached the Ghulam Nabi Shah police station to get the case registered, but head munshi Faiz Muhammad kept them waiting there and said official-in-charge of the police station Sohail Khaskheli had not arrived, therefore, the case could not be registered. No referral for medico-legal tests had been issued, nor any FIR registered till late in the evening.

Meanwhile, former MNA of the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional Faquir Jadam Mangrio condemned the gang-rape and criticised the police for delaying the registration of an FIR.