TOBA TEK SINGH, March 31: Another girl was reportedly sacrificed at the altar of family pride to cover up folly committed by a male member. The case surfacing at a village near Pirmahal also reveals that to what extent people can go to settle old scores.

A team of local newsmen visited Chak 773-GB, 15 kms from Pirmahal, on Friday after reports that 11 people had raped a 13-year-old girl on the order of a Panchayat.

The issue is so complex it is difficult to establish the actual story. But one thing is sure the ultimate sufferer is 17-year-old Rukhsana, who is paying the price of a sin she never committed.

As complainants and accused stuck to their stands, a number of other villagers (not party to the case) said that peasant Shahamand Bhatti ‘caught’ his teenaged daughter Nasreen sitting with Javed Iqbal in a room. They said Bhatti locked the room from outside and called Iqbal’s father Rafiq. The two later reached a ‘consensus’ that to teach Javed Iqbal a lesson, his younger sister Rukhsana will be married to Ikram (Nasreen’s fiance).

They said that Maulvi Gull Hussain, Imam of the village mosque, recited the Nikah of Rukhsana and Ikraam the next day. After the wedding night, relatives of Rafiq (Rukhsana’s father), who were unaware of the Nikah, started pressing him to have a Hudood and kidnapping case registered against Ikram, Bhatti and their relatives.

The Pirmahal police registered four days ago the case against 11 people under section 10 of Hudood Ordinance. However, it did not mention Pachayat-enforced decision, as alleged by complainants Rafiq and party.

Mian Muhammad Iqbal, a Wapda engineer and one of the accused, said he had no concern with the case. “My only fault is that I am a relative of one of the accused.”

Mian Iqbal said to his knowledge Nikah was contracted and the girl was sent by parents with her husband after which the couple did spend a night together.

He said rivalries fresh from the last local elections were the main cause of lodging the FIR. Nevertheless, he admitted, it was a sheer injustice with Rukhasana whose life had been ruined by Bhatti and Rafiq.

Pirmahal police, which now face a test of their skills to unearth the truth, have so far arrested five of the accused. The girl has meanwhile returned to her parents who did not allow her to talk to the newsmen.

HELD: Anti-corruption magistrate Shahid Javed caught red-handed on Friday district Anjuman Patwarian president accepting Rs 15,000 as bribe from a villager.