TARIQ SAEED BIRMANI
DERA GHAZI KHAN: A Class-VIII student, who was produced in a court here on Thursday by a man claiming to be her husband, dramatically accused him and his four accomplices of kidnapping her and subjecting her to gang-rape during her over two and a half months long detention.
Following the ‘sudden’ accusations, her alleged tormentors fled the court to avoid immediate arrest.
The victim, ‘S’, a resident of Kot Chutta, had gone missing on May 16 this year while returning home from school where she studied in 8th class.
A kidnap case was registered by the police concerned against five nominated accused — Ghulam Rasool, Zameer, Ghulam Mohammad, Sarfraz and Mukhtar on July 10.
On Thursday, all the accused appeared voluntarily in a court and one of them claiming to be husband of the victim, produced a marriage deed (nikah nama) to prove his claim.
But the situation took a dramatic turn when the girl told the judge that the five men had actually kidnapped her and repeatedly subjected her to gang-rape during her for more than two months. Later, the accused tried to pacify her by seeking her forgiveness and forcing her to marry one of them to avoid punishment for their crime.
As the girl finished her account, the accused immediately fled the court despite presence of police there.
Soon after the incident, the victim, along with her relatives, staged a demonstration in front of the DPO office, demand immediate arrest of THE accused and action against the policemen who failed to arrest them while they were fleeing the court premises.
The protester also sough action against the Nikah Khawan who administered the forced nikah.
Kot Chhuta police said a case had been registered against the five at accused under section 365-b for contracting forced marriage. They said a case for gang-rape would be registered in the light of the medical examination report of the girl that was yet to be conducted.
