LAYYAH, Feb 25: A 15-year-old girl has moved court seeking registration of a gang rape case against five people after police refused to entertain her plea.

Asma Bibi from Daman Shah village of Bait Wasawa Karlu, 30 km from Layyah, says that she had come to Kot Sultan to attend a Majlis-i-Aza on Feb 20. After the Majlis, she was standing on a bus stand when her neighbours Muna and Muhammad Ashraf came in a car and offered her a lift to her home. She accepted the offer and got on the car. Three more people, Nasir Shah, Sajjad Ahmad and Munir Ahmad, joined them and took her to a house in the suburban of Kot Sultan where they raped her for three days, said Asma.

On Feb 23, they dropped her at a dike near her village and fled.

She said that she narrated her ordeal to her father who approached the Kot Sultan police station for the registration of a first information report (FIR), but police turned down his plea. She alleged the accused were influential, so police did not refer her for a medical testing and refused to register the FIR.

The alleged raped girl filed an application in the court of the district and sessions court judge on Feb 24, seeking the registration of a case against the accused.

The judge ordered the Layyah district police officer to investigate into the matter and submit a report on March 3.

Muhammad Nawaz, Faiz Elahi and Iqbal Shah, relatives of the alleged rape victim, told Dawn that they were poor labourers and had no money to pursue the case.

They demanded that the Punjab inspector general of police and the Layyah district police officer protect them from the accused.

Advocate Nuzhat Yasmeen, Public Safety Commission member, condemned the heinous act and appealed to the chief justice to take suo motu action against the accused.

Source: Dawn

Date:2/26/2007