By: Akhtar Amin
PESHAWAR: A teenage girl reportedly kidnapped a year ago and repeatedly raped by several persons including policemen submitted an application in the Peshawar High Court on Thursday to seek arrest and exemplary punishment to all the accused.
Uzma Ayub, 16, along with her aged mother Bilqees Begum handed over her application to Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan in an open court and requested him to dispense her justice. The chief justice observed that the court would do justice.
In the application, the girl stated that she was now six-month pregnant. She added that she was kidnapped by Nazar Khan, Karim and Naseebullah, son of Nazar Khan, on October 9, 2010. She said three policemen including Station House Officers (SHOs) Pir Mohsin Shah and Ameer Khan and Sub-Inspector Hakeem Khan assisted the kidnappers in her abduction.
Though the girl claimed that she would be giving birth to the illegitimate child of SI Hakeem Khan, she had once stated in her statement under section 164 of the CrPC that she was raped by several persons including policemen.
She requested the chief justice to order arrest of the accused as police officials concerned were not arresting the kidnappers and police officials even after her statement. The girl recorded her statement under section 164 of CrPC before Judicial Magistrate Asif Kamal in Takht-e-Nasrati tehsil of Karak district after her escape from the captors on September 19, 2011.
In her statement, she stated: “The 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 and Qamar Ali alias Gulay. These people kept me at their house where one Guleena and Shakeel came and spent some time with me. Then Dr Iqbal also came to the room and administered an injection to me and I fell unconscious.
When I regained my senses, I noticed that I had been shifted to another house. I did not know anybody there. After some time, Qamar Ali alias Gulay and Karim visited me. She added: “In that house, Naseebullah, a brother of Gulay, visited me and forced me to marry him. The same night Naseebullah’s son visited me and raped me. Qamar Ali, Karim and Alam also raped me. Two police officials, one namely Hakeem, used to visit me frequently to satisfy their lust. I don’t know the name of the other cop but I can recognise him if he is produced before me.” “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 for the 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.”
The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister also took serious notice of Uzma Ayub’s plight after the appearance of a news story in The News about the alleged abduction and rape of the girl. He has ordered a probe into the incident.
The chief minister constituted an inquiry committee headed by home secretary, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with AIG Police Investigation and Kohat commissioner as its members. The committee will submit its findings to the government within a week. On January 31, 2011, the PHC chief justice had taken suo moto notice of the case after receiving an application from the mother of the girl seeking her recovery and action against the accused persons and directed the police officials of Karak to recover the girl.
On July 27, a division bench comprising Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel disposed of the case after examining the progress report of Crimes Branch that no clue with regard to the missing girl could be found. However, the bench directed that whenever she is recovered she should be produced before the local court for recording her statement, and that her medico-legal examination should be carried out through a lady doctor. The court said she should be handed over to her mother and if she has any dispute with family members, she would be kept in the Women Crises Centre, Karak.
Source: The News
Date:10/7/2011
