The Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights on Tuesday took notice of an incident in which a 16-year-old girl was allegedly paraded naked in her Dera Ismail Khan village last month.
A session of the committee has been called on Wednesday to discuss the matter. The committee has issued notices to Ministry of Human Rights secretary and to secretary of interior Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, asking them to attend tomorrow's session.
The Senate committee has also sought a report on the matter.
Paraded naked
A day earlier, the 16-year-old girl had filed a petition in the Peshawar High Court, narrating the chilling account of what happened to her on Oct 27 at her village Garamat in DI Khan and how the local police supported the suspected culprits by twisting facts in the first information report.
In the petition, she claimed that that around two years ago, her brother Sajid was accused of gifting a cellphone to a female relative of Sajawal’s family and that the issue was placed before a punchiat (jirga) of Garamat village in Daraban tehsil, which was presided over tehsil nazim Mooni Khan.
The girl said before the punchiat was held, her brother had denied the charges and offered to take oath, yet the punchiat imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on Sajid.
She added that the fine was reduced to Rs300,000 when Sajawal had kicked her mother before the punchiat.
The petitioner said on Oct 27, she along with other females of neighboring houses went to fetch water from a water pond at around 2pm and that on her way home, she was passing nearby the residence of Sajawal and Sanaullah when the accused — including Sajawal and his brother Shahjehan, Nasir and Aslam sons of Faizu, Sanaullah — and others came out.
She claimed that the accused forcibly took her inside the house, tore her clothes and took her dupatta away.
The girl added that she was later paraded naked in the streets, while a person caught the incident on camera.
She alleged that the suspected culprits carrying weapons later threw her outside her house naked.
In the petition, the girl has sought protection from the suspected culprits.
Bullet-riddled bodies
The senate committee also took notice of the murder of five individuals, whose bullet-riddled bodies were found in Turbat on Saturday morning.
Notices were issued to secretary of interior Balochistan and to the inspector-general regarding the matter, asking them to attend the committee's session on Wednesday.
A report regarding the murders was also ordered.
