MUZAFFARGARH: Additional district and sessions judge on Wednesday acquitted the nine people accused of holding a Panchayat and ordering gang rape of a woman in a Kot Addu village.

The court also ordered registration of a case against petitioner Fazlan Bibi and her two witnesses in the case when they retracted the statements they had given against the accused.

The case was registered against the accused by Daira Din Pannah police on Jan 24, 2014.

On Tuesday, when AD&SJ Khalid Mahmood called the petitioner in the court, Fazlan Bibi and the two witnesses changed their statements saying the accusation was false. The judge ordered release of the nine accused and directed Kot Addu police to register a case against the petitioner and witnesses.

Station House Officer Waseem Leghari said an FIR had been registered against the petitioner and two witnesses on the court’s orders.

After the case was highlighted by the media, the Supreme Court chief justice had taken notice of it and the police arrested all the accused.

The doctor concerned and the district administration in their reports had said that though the 40-year-old woman was subjected to humiliation for her brother’s affair with a girl, she was not raped.