MULTAN, June 29: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s Multan Task Force has alleged that some influentials of Mailsi (Vehari district) are forcing a 20-year-old girl to reach at a compromise with the men who kidnapped and gang-raped her.

Five men had kidnapped the girl from near the Government Girls Degree College when she went for a walk on the morning of June 20 last with the women of her locality.

The kidnappers subjected her to gang rape for four days and planned to kill her. But one of the kidnappers informed the family of the girl who approached police for the recovery of the girl.

Police recovered the girl from the Mochiwala farm house of a mill owner and arrested Abdul Salam Qureshi, Altaf Hussain, Saleem Bhatti and Tufail Bhatti. Noor Muhammad, a police volunteer, is still at large.

Initial medical examination confirmed that the girl was gang-raped.

A case was registered under Hadood Ordinance against the accused on the report of girl’s father.

Led by advocate Rashid Rehman, a three-member team of the HRCP’s Multan task force went on a fact-finding mission to Mailsi last week.

The team says in a report that the girl is the breadwinner of a family of five. Her parents are bed-ridden because of chronic ailments. Her younger sister has just passed secondary school certificate examination while her brother is only 12 years old. She earns livelihood by embroidering and stitching clothes.

She had gone for a walk in the morning for the first time, that too, on the insistence of the women in the neighbourhood.

The accused were on a ‘hunting’ spree on a car as they fired several shots in the air on seeing the group of women walking in the pre-dawn session. The harassed women ran for shelter but the girl lost her balance and fell down on the ground. The accused bundled her into the car and drove away.

Mailsi Saddar police station is situated hardly a furlong away from the place of kidnapping but no official bothered to come out.

Two youngmen, who informed the police about the kidnapping, were taken into custody. The ‘law-enforcers’ took two hours to reach the spot. After arresting the accused, police brought them to the place from where they had kidnapped the girl and subjected them to torture in public.

According to the HRCP report, this act of the police was nothing but to conceal their earlier criminal negligence before the public as otherwise their seriousness is evident from the fact that they have not incorporated the sections relevant to the offence of gang rape in the FIR.

After their failure to arrest Noor Muhammad, police detained his wife and two minor children.

The HRCP team found the victim on the verge of ‘mental disorder.’ It also took note of the incapacity of the victim’s family to pursue the case due to its financial and physical condition as the only male adult is bed-ridden.

“The circumstances of the family, therefore, are encouraging the influential culprits to exploit the situation.” The girl and the area people told HRCP team that there was enormous pressure on the victim’s family to strike a deal with the accused.

The commission demanded that the case should be investigated by an official not less than the rank of ASP and a report be submitted to the court within 15 days according to the procedure laid down under Section 173 of Cr PC.

The government should appoint a special prosecutor to conduct the case and ensure full protection to the victim’s family and witnesses of the incident.

The commission observed with concern that the local authorities were forcing the women of the area to curtail their movement outside their houses.

It recommended that the district government should immediately take measures to restore confidence of the women.