DADU, March 26: Gang-rape victim Reehana Channa, 16, warned on Wednesday she would commit suicide if her tormenters were not arrested and brought to justice, as police claimed arresting one of the accused and closing in on the rest.

The investigation officer of the case, Nissar Ahmed Bhatti, said on telephone that police had arrested Ghulam Hussain Leghari who was nominated in the FIR and were conducting raids to arrest the remaining accused. He would be produced in court for seeking his judicial remand, he said.

The victim’s father accused in the FIR that Mumtaz Jamali, brother of an ASI of district women police, Ghulam Hussain Leghari, Gulan Khan Leghari and a woman Khatoon Leghari of forcing into his house late on Monday night after jumping over the courtyard.

They locked the family in a room, tied his daughter with ropes and subjected her to gang-rape, he said, adding that the influential accused were now threatening to kill his entire family.

Police lodged the FIR and sent the victim to Dadu Civil Hospital for treatment. The hospital’s civil surgeon Dr Taufique Memon said that he had constituted a medical board to prepare report about the patient’s condition. The girl’s biopsy had been taken and sent to a laboratory for confirmation of rape, he added.

The gang-rape victim said that Mumtaz Jamali who worked at the DPO’s office was threatening to kill her. She warned she would commit suicide if the accused were not arrested and she was not provided justice.

The girl’s father Nematullah Channa told journalists that his daughter was not well. Police were deliberately delaying arrest of the accused, he alleged.

SHO Asghar Birhamani said that he provided police protection to the victim after the girl’s father lodged the FIR, which had been sent to investigation police.
Source: Dawn
Date:3/27/2008