A most shameful episode occurred on the 18th of July, 2017, at Rajapur Muzaffarabad, a village near Multan, when a 17-year-old girl was raped in the presence of her parents and other people. A First Investigation Report (FIR) was filed on the 24th of July. The case of ‘revenge rape’ cannot but remind one of the events of Nawabpur in 1984, when ‘retaliatory rape’ was committed against the sister of a boy accused of raping another girl. And likewise, there was the incident of Mukhtaran Mai, from 2002. She had also been raped on the direction of the Panchayat (village council) members. Repeated instances of this sort understandably bring disrepute to Punjab, particularly its more marginalised areas.
In the most recent case that we are considering, a 12-year-old girl named Shamim was cutting grass in the fields when a young man Umar Wada approached her. He then proceeded to drag her to a nearby place and raped her, having overcome all her resistance and efforts to call for help. When they found out, the parents of the victim tried their best to inform the nearest police station but in vain. The concerned police officials refused to help in any significant way. The parents, in the hope of settling the scores, then turned to ‘village elders’ and the panchayat for help.
Accordingly, a panchayat was convened with the consent of the victims and the accused parties. At this council, it was decided that in retribution for the rape already having taken place, one of the sisters of the first attacker must be raped and by this way the matter should be resolved. So according to this decision, the sister of the first accused was raped in the presence of the panchayat members. The most soul-wrecking aspect of these proceedings is the following: initially the members of the Panchayat called all three sisters of the first accused. A ‘choice’ had to be made for one of them to take the punishment. In the end, the 17-year-old “A” was ordered to be raped. Despite all her protests and efforts to save herself, the barbarous sentence was duly carried out. She was threatened with death by some of the members of the Panchayat, who were by this point brandishing guns.
Police arrested several of the accused in the case of 'revenge rape' - after a significant delay and much pressure from higher up
As is the norm, the police once again failed to do much about this despite the pleas of the second raped girl. However, as news of the incident of ‘retaliatory rape’ spread through the local people and amongst higher authorities, both of the families filed criminal charges with the police – accusing each other’s son of committing rape. At this point, it would appear that the police in Muzaffarabad finally became active and they proceeded to arrest 28 people out of 29 who were involved in this ghastly crime. And thus finally began an investigation. Both of the victims and their mothers were sent to the newly established Women’s Protection Centre.
It was the lack of interest shown by the local police that prompted the Chief Minister of Punjab Shahbaz Sharif to proceed to Multan without any further delay. Soon after the story began to spread through the country, Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar took suo moto notice of this incident on an urgent basis. He ordered an instant report from the Inspector-General of Police, Punjab.
Likewise the Chief Minister of Punjab met both of the victims and their parents, promising them justice and vowing exemplary punishment for the perpetrators of the heinous crimes. He insisted, with the usual zeal, that those responsible would not be spared at any cost.
The Chief Minister also suspended several police officials for the delay in conducting the arrests of the accused. He expressed his dissatisfaction over the performance of the concerned police officials. He further pointed out that the police officials neglected the issue and lodged the cases after eight days. He then proceeded to form a three-member committee to investigate the incident and directed it to submit its report within 72 hours.
While the interest shown by the highest executive and judicial authorities is laudable in of itself, the problem of course, runs far deeper.
A recent report by an NGO states that during the last three months, 27% of the total reported incidents of violence against women took place in Multan district
The incident of ‘revenge rape’ committed on the instructions of the panchayat, as already mentioned, is part of a series of outrages against humanity. For decades since 1947, innocent women have been made victims of the most barbarous and violent elements of our rural society. It has become, unfortunately, a norm to live with the fact that such men have the power to order literally every kind of excesses against anyone – particularly women.
Panchayats themselves rely on the efforts of local elders to dispense justice and provide arbitration in disputes. While they have long been accepted as a traditional means of settling petty disputes at a local level, they have often invited controversy and reached questionable decisions. This is particularly so when they deal with instances of violence against women. In fact, as we can see from incidents such as this latest one, the panchayats themselves can become purveyors of violence against women – in response to violence against women!
Legal expert Ahmed Ali Khan says:
“These panchayats which were always comprised heavily of exploiters and discriminators are basically illegal and unconstitutional. They operate on a paradigm of parallel justice and their decisions are also unlawful, with no credibility at all. So the formation of these bodies must be prohibited in black and white in the country – particularly in the rural areas”.
According to social scientist Dr.Azhar Hassan Kamal, “The panchayat system is a gift of a past era in which no concept of social justice and equality existed comparable to those which form the basis of our laws today. Any small powerful group in the name of being ‘elders’ of the area could give out the harshest and most unbearable punishments to any person. Such small groups, having taken local legitimacy as panchayats then proceeded to settle all kinds of issues, the minor and the grave, at local level without fulfilling the basic requirements of justice and the law of the State. So, innumerable innocent men and women were forced to go through severe punishments. Unfortunately this very trend is still present in full force today in our rural society without any real resistance or obstruction. It must now be ended by the state’s legal apparatus.”
Meanwhile social psychologist Mehreen Zara says:
“In south Punjab’s rural areas, illiteracy is rife in general. And literacy for the women, in some areas, is quite simply prohibited. Schooling for the girls is taken to mean making the girls ‘wicked, disobedient and rebellious in the face of ancient traditions’. These are traditions in which the people not only have full faith but also a great deal of pride.”
South Punjab is a region of Pakistan where the rate of crimes against women is considered the highest in the country. A recent report by an NGO states that during the last three months, 27 % of the total reported incidents of violence against women – including ‘honour’ killings, acid attacks, kidnappings, violent murders, setting on fire, rapes, domestic torture, forced suicides, police torture and vani – took place in Multan district.
During these three months, some 723 cases of horrific violence against women were registered only in Multan.
A tragic aspect of this situation is that no political party has ever seriously bothered to take up the cause of purging rural society of these cruel customs and rites. Concerned mainly with consolidating their vote bank amongst conservative men, they are easily able to ignore the basic rights of their very own female constituents.
Another hard fact is that in South Punjab, awareness campaigns simply haven’t had the impact that one would have hoped for. The biggest evidence for that is the continued prevalence of such horrifying levels of violence against women.
