THATTA: Father of a teenage boy, who was allegedly gang raped at gunpoint and filmed by an office-bearer of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and his two friends, has appealed to Chief Justice of Pakistan to take suo motu notice of the ghastly crime and serve justice to him and his innocent son.

The traumatised father narrated before journalists the ordeal his son had to go through in Darro town in Sujawal district and said that some time ago a senior PPP office-bearer of Mirpur Bathoro chapter and his two accomplices kidnapped his son and took him to their autaq where they subjected him to gang rape at gunpoint. They allowed him to go home only after making a video of the episode, he said.

The victim said that since that day his tormentors started blackmailing the family and demanding money. The poor family met their demands once or twice but could not afford to keep up with the increasing demands, so they left their ancestral town and shifted to Hyderabad after disposing of their meagre assets, they said.

But the threats and blackmailing did not stop; when they refused to be blackmailed anymore the blackmailers spread the video clip on social networking sites, they said.

The father said that the boy had been in severe trauma since the incident; he had left school and spent most of the time in solitude. He had recently confided in a friend of his that he wished to end his life rather than continue living in such an unjust society, said the father.

The father said that they had contacted minority leader and MPA Ramesh Kumar who had promised to provide them justice.

According to some TV channels, Sindh Minister for Home Sohail Anwer Siyal has issued directives to Sujawal SP to register FIR of the incident and provide security to the victim and his family. He said that nobody, irrespective of his socio-political status, who was found involved in the gruesome incident be spared.

The incident has created unrest among civil society. Scores of people associated with various political parties and members of civil society took to the streets in Sujawal on Wednesday, demanding immediate arrest of the culprits, including the son of the influential PPP leader.

Led by Irfan Khwaja, Shahid Samoon, Sattar Chandio and others, the demonstrates marched through main thoroughfares and dispersed peacefully after recording the protest in front of the press club.

A number of activists said they did not have any hope that police would bring the influential culprit to book as his father was believed to be an aspirant for National Assembly seat in general election.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2018