PESHAWAR, Sept 17: The provincial government has referred the rape case of a minor girl to an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) here.

A police official confirmed to Dawn that the accused, Misal Khan, would now be tried by the ATC, presided over by Akhter Zareef Khan.

This would be the first rape case to be tried by the ATC here.

The 11-year girl was raped allegedly by the accused on Aug 23 at Tehkal Payan area in the jurisdiction of the University Town police station.

The accused was arrested after an FIR was lodged with the police station by the mother of the victim. The minor was taken to the hospital for medical examination, which confirmed that she was sexually assaulted. The victim, who is also suffering from some mental abnormality, had also recorded her statement before the court of the magistrate concerned under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code in which she had charged Misal Khan with the assault. The accused, who is 45, is a married person.

The victim claimed that she was playing with other children outside her house when Misal Khan, a resident of her village, approached her.

She added that he was holding two pigeons. The accused asked her to accompany her to a hujra where he would give her some pigeons, she added.

Inside the hujra, she alleged, the accused sexually assaulted her. She rushed back to her residence and informed her mother about the incident. She was taken to the hospital, where, she claimed that Misal Khan and his mother also reached and warned them of dire consequences if they went to the police. There was great resentment among the inhabitants of the area after the incident, due to which the government decided to shift the case to the ATC instead of any normal court.

Last week, the father of the girl had addressed a press conference along with members of the Joint Action Committee of civil society groups, and had claimed that the accused was influential and that he (victim’s father) was beaten by the relatives of the accused to force him to withdraw the charges against Misal. The participants of the conference had demanded of the government to shift the case to the ATC for expeditious disposal.