Farzana Ali Khan

PESHAWAR: A teenage girl, kidnapped one year ago, held captive and repeatedly raped by several persons, including policemen, has miraculously escaped from her captors while being six months pregnant and has now vowed to seek justice, desperately, come what may.

Uzma, the teenager who will soon be a single mother, has gathered the strength and determination to take the known culprits to justice, says she would go to any length, like Mukhtaran Mai who became an icon and inspiration for all violated women in Pakistan.

Parents of the victim, Uzma, 16, daughter of Mohammad Ayub, a resident of Marwataan Banda, Tehsil Takht-e-Nasrati of the Karak district, who dodged her kidnappers and rapists on Sept 19 while being shifted in a car to DI Khan from Bannu, had lodged an FIR soon after she went missing in October last year.

She narrated the escape to The News saying two kidnappers who were taking her in a car stopped over in a crowded place and she jumped out and escaped. Then she called her brother from a public phone and managed to dodge the two.

When she was kidnapped, local police had failed to recover her. Later, her parents moved the Peshawar High Court (PHC) that summoned the police officials and ordered them to recover the girl at the earliest. Sources said the affected girl under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code recorded her statement in the case FIR No: 363 registered on October 9, 2010 under Section 496 of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Takht-e-Nasrati Police Station.

She had stated in her report: “Police raided our home to arrest my brother over a petty dispute with our neighbour and picked me up and handed me over to Gul Marjan, Sardar Ali Khan, Nazar Khan, Qamar Ali alias Guley. These people kept me at their house, where Mst Guleena and Shakeel came and spent some time with me. Then came Dr Iqbal in the room. He administered me an injection and I fell unconscious. When I regained my senses, I noticed that I had been shifted to another location. I did not know anybody there. After some time, Qamar Ali alias Guley and Karim visited me.”

In the statement she alleged: “In that house Naseebullah, a brother of Guley, visited me and forced me to marry him. Same night Naseebullah’s son visited me and raped me. Qamar Ali Khan, Karim and Alam also raped me. Two police officials, one named Hakim, used to frequently visit me to satisfy their lust. I don’t know the name of the other cop but can recognise him if he is produced before me.”

The wronged girl said: “All the people mentioned are involved in my abduction and molestation. I charged these persons with ruining my life and making me pregnant. In the house when I was drugged and raped second time, the people over there told me that I had been sold to them and they were taking me to Dera Ismail Khan and when they stopped at Bannu, I escaped from their captivity and now am here before you.”

Bilqees Begum, mother of Uzma, told The News, “Police is supposed to provide protection to the people but if they themselves become beasts, who will trust them?”

The News learnt that a lady doctor Zakia conducted the medical examination of the girl and declared that she was six months pregnant. It was also learnt that none of the lawyers in the area was ready to plead her case. Some of media men allegedly demanded a huge amount from the affected family members when they requested them to highlight the case as the accused, including cops, were influential.

When contacted by The News, Uzma said though she knew that girls like her had never got justice in Pakistan, yet she would not give up, adding she would demand justice from the Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, President Asif Ali Zardari, Premier Yusuf Raza Gilani and the human rights organisations and would ask one question from all of them: What would they do had their daughter been in the place where I am standing today? I only expect that treatment from them as their daughters would have got.”

On April 5, 2011, a two-member bench comprising Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Yahya Afridi had directed the district police officer to trace the kidnapped girl when the girl’s mother had alleged that her daughter, then a student of 9th grade, had been kidnapped by police officials including SHO Pir Mohsin Shah, Sub-Inspector Hakeem Khan and Amir Muhammad during an illegal raid on her house. She had sent an application to Chief Justice of the PHC Ejaz Afzal Khan who had later converted it into a writ petition.

The Karak DPO, Sajid Khan Mohmand, had appeared before the court and contended that on the complaint of the female, the police had registered an FIR at the Takht-e-Nasrati Police Station in Karak. Police had raided several places but could not recover the girl. He had added that four persons earlier charged by the complainant had been granted bail by a local court.

A brother of the alleged kidnapped girl, Alamzeb Khan, had told the court that the family had learnt that his sister had been taken to Quetta by an army man, Naseebullah Khan. He stated that although the family had named him but the local police did not arrest him. He had stated that the local police had also implicated him in different cases. The DPO had stated that the complainant had not charged the said person in the initial statement.

The PHC chief justice on April 06, this year had directed the Karak DPO to contact the station commander of the Pakistan Army in Quetta for searching the teenaged girl who according to her family members was illegally being held by a serving soldier after her alleged abduction by the local policemen.

Alamzeb Khan, brother of the kidnapped girl, informed the court that his family had received information from reliable sources that his sister was in illegal detention of the main accused Nasibullah, who was an army man and currently serving in Quetta.

The bench had directed the Karak DPO to record supplementary statement of the girl’s brother against Nasibullah in the case. The bench also directed him to send a senior police officer to Quetta to discuss the girl’s abduction with the station commander, seek her recovery and pursue abduction charges against the soldier. He later fixed April 21 for the next hearing into the case.

Bilqees had told the court that she was at home when SHO Pir Mohsin Shah, Sub-Inspector Hakeem Khan and additional SHO Amir Muhammad raided her residence unaccompanied by any lady constable. She alleged that the cops also took away some cash and gold ornaments from her house.

On April 22, the PHC directed the police officials in Karak to recover the kidnapped girl by May 11 or face suspension from service.

Source: The News

Date: 10/5/2011