JHANG: Women Councillor Network activists on Tuesday staged a demonstration in front of the DPO office in protest against what they said police failure to arrest alleged rapists of daughter of a lady councillor in Jogianwala locality.

About a week ago, a 14-year-old daughter of a lady councillor went out of her house to bring a cold drink for her father, Muhammad Bakhsh, from a nearby store. When she did not come back, her parents launched a search. One Umar Farooq told the family that he had seen their daughter being forcibly taken away in a car by Tasawwar Abbas, Wajahat Ali, Qaiser and Shakeel.

The Kotwali Jhang police registered a case against five accused on the complaint of girl’s brother Muzaffar Abbas. Three days after the kidnap, she was recovered through the intervention of a ‘punchayat’.

The girl told her parents that the accused took her to Lahore and gang-raped her after intoxicating her. The Jhang Kotwali police could not arrest the accused despite a lapse of eight days.

On Tuesday, woman councillors gathered outside the human rights office and then moved towards the DPO office. Carrying banners, placards and chanting slogans, they were demanding early arrest of the accused. They also demonstrated in front of the local press club.

A police source told Dawn one of the accused had already managed to get a pre-arrest bail from the sessions court while the police were trying to nab others.
Source: Dawn
Date:6/24/2009